One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant dahlia by using the USDA zone info for Forest Lake.

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 when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Forest Lake is May. However, you really should wait until June 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Forest Lake. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Forest Lake is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Forest Lake there is a last frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Forest Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Forest Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Forest Lake.