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

The USDA zone info for Waco should be looked at to estimate when it's a good idea to plant dahlia.

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 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 Waco 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 March 15 in Waco. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waco may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Waco there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your dahlia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waco

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Waco

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