One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant dallas fern is to look at the USDA zone info for Tampa.

Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

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

Since dallas fern do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Tampa 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dallas fern may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dallas fern indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Tampa. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Tampa may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Tampa last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your dallas fern if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Tampa

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 Tampa

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