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

One way of determining when you can plant dahlia is to examine the USDA zone info for De Soto.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

Dahlia do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in De Soto 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 grow to maturity. Starting your dahlia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in De Soto. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for De Soto and it is different every year. Half of the time in De Soto you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your dahlia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for De Soto

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in De Soto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for De Soto.