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 way of estimating when it's possible to plant carnation is to use the USDA zone info for Aberdeen.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Since carnation do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Aberdeen is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your carnation may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Aberdeen the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Aberdeen and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Aberdeen you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your carnation in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Aberdeen

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Aberdeen

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