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When to Plant Dahlias in Colonial Heights, VA

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.

In Colonial Heights you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant dahlias by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

Dahlias require warm weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant dahlias
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant dahlias
Probably not a good time to plant dahlias

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Colonial Heights 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dahlias indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Colonial Heights. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Colonial Heights and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Colonial Heights it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Colonial Heights

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Colonial Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Colonial Heights.