One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's the best time to plant carnation by checking out the USDA zone info for Smithfield.

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 cold which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Smithfield 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your carnation may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Smithfield. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Smithfield and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Smithfield last frost occurs after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your carnation if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Smithfield

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