Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant carnation is to refer to the USDA zone info for Tillamook.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

You can plant carnation earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Tillamook 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Tillamook. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Tillamook is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Tillamook there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your carnation in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tillamook

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Tillamook

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