Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant dahlia is to look at the USDA zone info for Elburn.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

You should not plant dahlia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Elburn 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. Starting your dahlia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Elburn may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Elburn last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elburn

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 Elburn

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