One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 can determine when it's a good idea to plant dahlia in Ridgewood by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

It's not a good idea to 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 Ridgewood 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ridgewood. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ridgewood and it is different every year. Half of the time in Ridgewood there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgewood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Ridgewood

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