One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Flint you can figure out when it's possible to plant dahlias by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

Since dahlias require warm weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Flint 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 dahlias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your dahlias indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Flint the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Flint may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Flint there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Flint

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Flint

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