Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant carnation is to examine the USDA zone info for Norwalk.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Carnation do ok in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Norwalk 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 fully mature. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Norwalk. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Norwalk may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Norwalk there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your carnation in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Norwalk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Norwalk

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