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

You can estimate when you can plant dianthus in Decatur by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dianthus

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

Since dianthus are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant dianthus in Decatur 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dianthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Decatur. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Decatur is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Decatur there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your dianthus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Decatur

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