One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A common way of determining when to plant dahlia is to examine the USDA zone info for Sidney.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

Since dahlia require warm weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Sidney 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. If you wait any later than that and your dahlia may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dahlia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sidney. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sidney is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Sidney it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sidney

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sidney

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