One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant carnation by reviewing the USDA zone info for Lansing.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

Frost tolerance for carnation:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Carnation do well in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Lansing is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your carnation may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lansing. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lansing and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lansing you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your carnation in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lansing

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Lansing

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lansing.