One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 it's the best time to plant dahlia is to look at the USDA zone info for Middletown.

Planting Calendar for Dahlia

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant dahlia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Middletown 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. Any later than that and your dahlia may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your dahlia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Middletown. 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 Middletown is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Middletown it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Middletown

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 Middletown

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