One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant dahlia in Decatur by using 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.

Since dahlia do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Decatur 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Decatur the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Decatur and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Decatur last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your dahlia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Decatur

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