Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant carnation in South Haven can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Since carnation are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in South Haven 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. If you are starting your carnation indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in South Haven. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Haven may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in South Haven you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your carnation if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Haven

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in South Haven

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Haven.