One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant dahlias is to examine the USDA zone info for Montpelier.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

You should not plant dahlias until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Montpelier is May. However, you really should wait until June 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. If you wait any later than that and your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your dahlias indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Montpelier the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Montpelier is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Montpelier it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Montpelier

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Montpelier

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