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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Independence it's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant dahlia.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

You can not plant dahlia until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Independence. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Independence is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Independence it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

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 Independence

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