When to Plant Dahlia in La Palma, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in La Palma should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Dahlia

Frost tolerance for dahlia: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant dahlia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in La Palma 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 dahlia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dahlia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dahlia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in La Palma. You can expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for La Palma is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in La Palma you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your dahlia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Palma

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in La Palma

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Palma.