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.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant dianthus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Honesdale.

Planting Calendar for Dianthus

Frost tolerance for dianthus:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant dianthus a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant dianthus in Honesdale 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 dianthus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your dianthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your dianthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Honesdale. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Honesdale may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Honesdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your dianthus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Honesdale

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 Honesdale

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