One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Zone 10a should be reviewed to determine when it's a good idea to plant carnation.

Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Carnation can survive in cold weather which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Zone 10a is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your carnation may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your carnation indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Zone 10a. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 10a is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 10a you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your carnation if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 10a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 10a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 10a.