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.

The USDA zone info for Valley Center can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant dahlia.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

It's not a good idea to plant dahlia until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Valley Center 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 really do well. Starting your dahlia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Valley Center is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Valley Center last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your dahlia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Valley Center

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 Valley Center

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Valley Center.