Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 refer to the USDA zone info for Artesia.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

Since dahlia require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Artesia 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Artesia. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Artesia is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Artesia last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your dahlia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Artesia

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 Artesia

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