One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant cosmos is to check out the USDA zone info for Dixon.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

Frost tolerance for cosmos:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Cosmos do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Dixon is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your cosmos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Dixon the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dixon and it is different every year. Half of the time in Dixon last frost occurs after February 15 so always be ready to protect your cosmos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dixon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Dixon

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