One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of estimating when to plant dahlias is to examine the USDA zone info for Jackson.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

Frost tolerance for dahlias:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant dahlias until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Jackson is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant dahlias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlias indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Jackson the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Jackson is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Jackson you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your dahlias in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Jackson

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 Jackson

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