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.

You should be able to figure out when to plant carnation by looking at the USDA zone info for Martin.

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 other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Martin 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. Any later than that and 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 Martin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Martin may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Martin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your carnation if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Martin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Martin

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