One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant dahlia is to examine the USDA zone info for Bellevue.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

You should not plant dahlia until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Bellevue 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. Any later than that and your dahlia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Bellevue is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bellevue it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bellevue

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 Bellevue

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