One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Spirit Lake you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant dahlias.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

You can not plant dahlias until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Spirit Lake 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. Any later than that and your dahlias may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your dahlias 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 April 15 in Spirit Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Spirit Lake is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Spirit Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Spirit Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Spirit Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spirit Lake.