The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 examine the USDA zone info for Winston-Salem.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

You can not plant dahlia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Winston-Salem 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Winston-Salem the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Winston-Salem is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Winston-Salem you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winston-Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Winston-Salem

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winston-Salem.