When to Plant Carnation in Zone 1a

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant carnation is to examine the USDA zone info for Zone 1a.


Planting Calendar for Carnation

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

Since carnation are very cold tolerant you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant carnation
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant carnation
Probably not a good time to plant carnation

The earliest that you can plant carnation in Zone 1a is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant carnation and expect a good harvest is probably July. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your carnation may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your carnation indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on June 15 in Zone 1a. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -60°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 1a is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 1a you get surprised by a frost after June 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your carnation in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 1a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 1a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)June 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)July 15
Lowest Expected Low-60°F
Highest Expected Low-55°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -60°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -55°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 1a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 1a.