One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Hooper you can estimate when to plant dianthus 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.

Dianthus can survive in moderate cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant dianthus in Hooper 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dianthus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your dianthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Hooper. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hooper is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Hooper you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your dianthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hooper

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 Hooper

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