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

In Lawrence you can figure out when it's the best time to plant dahlia 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 a bad idea to plant dahlia until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Lawrence 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 really do well. If you are starting your dahlia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lawrence. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lawrence is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lawrence you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your dahlia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lawrence

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 Lawrence

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