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.

In South Elgin you can figure out when you can plant dahlia by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

It's not a good idea to plant dahlia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in South Elgin 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dahlia may not have a chance to fully mature. 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 South Elgin. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Elgin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in South Elgin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Elgin

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 South Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Elgin.