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

In Staunton you can figure out 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 do well in a little bit of cold which tells us that 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 Staunton 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your dianthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Staunton. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Staunton is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Staunton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your dianthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Staunton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Staunton

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