One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant dahlias by looking at the USDA zone info for Canton.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

Dahlias are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Canton 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your dahlias indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Canton the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Canton is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Canton last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Canton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Canton

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