Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when to plant dahlias is to use the USDA zone info for State College.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

Frost tolerance for dahlias:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Dahlias are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in State College 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 dahlias and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlias indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in State College. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for State College may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in State College it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your dahlias in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for State College

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

Plants to Grow in State College

You may be interested in your other planting guides for State College.