One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant carnation is to consult the USDA zone info for Ironton.

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 very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Ironton 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. Starting your carnation indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ironton. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ironton is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ironton last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your carnation if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ironton

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 Ironton

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