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

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant dahlia by checking out the USDA zone info for Lafayette.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

Since dahlia require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant dahlia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your dahlia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your dahlia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Lafayette. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Lafayette is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lafayette you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lafayette

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Lafayette

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