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.

One way of estimating when to plant dahlias is to look at the USDA zone info for Cocoa Beach.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

Since dahlias do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Cocoa Beach is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

In Cocoa Beach the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Cocoa Beach is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Cocoa Beach you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your dahlias if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cocoa Beach

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 Cocoa Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cocoa Beach.