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.

In Lake Forest you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant dahlia by looking at 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 probably a bad idea to plant dahlia until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlia in Lake Forest 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. Any later than that and your dahlia may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your dahlia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Lake Forest. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake Forest is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lake Forest you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your dahlia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Forest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Forest.