One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A way of determining when you can plant dianthus is to use the USDA zone info for Victoria.

Planting Calendar for Dianthus

Frost tolerance for dianthus:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Dianthus are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant dianthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your dianthus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your dianthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Victoria. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Victoria is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Victoria last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your dianthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Victoria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Victoria

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