One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

You should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant dahlias by reviewing the USDA zone info for Saranac Lake.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

Since dahlias are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Saranac Lake is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant dahlias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dahlias may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dahlias indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Saranac Lake. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Saranac Lake is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Saranac Lake it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Saranac Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Saranac Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Saranac Lake.