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.

The USDA zone info for Carbondale can be used to determine when it's possible to plant painted tongues.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

Frost tolerance for painted tongues:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant painted tongues until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Carbondale is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your painted tongues indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Carbondale is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carbondale you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your painted tongues if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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