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

In Carthage you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant creeping phlox by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

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

Creeping Phlox can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in Carthage 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 creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your creeping phlox may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your creeping phlox indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carthage. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carthage is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carthage you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your creeping phlox if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carthage

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 Carthage

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