One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant dahlia is to look at the USDA zone info for Malvern.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

Frost tolerance for dahlia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You really shouldn't plant dahlia until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Malvern 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 dahlia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dahlia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Malvern. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Malvern may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Malvern you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Malvern

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Malvern

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