One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant dahlia is to look at the USDA zone info for Grand Ledge.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

Dahlia require warm weather which means that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Grand Ledge 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. If you are starting your dahlia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Grand Ledge. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Grand Ledge is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Grand Ledge it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Ledge

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Grand Ledge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Ledge.