One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant dahlia by referring to the USDA zone info for Shenandoah.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

It's a bad idea to plant dahlia until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Shenandoah 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Shenandoah. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Shenandoah may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Shenandoah there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shenandoah

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Shenandoah

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