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.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant dahlia is to check out the USDA zone info for Charlotte.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

It's a bad idea to plant dahlia until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Charlotte 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dahlia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Charlotte 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 Charlotte there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your dahlia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charlotte

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 Charlotte

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