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.

A common way of determining when you can plant dahlias is to consult the USDA zone info for Ocean Shores.

Planting Calendar for Dahlias

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

It's a bad idea to plant dahlias until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant dahlias in Ocean Shores 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. Any later than that and your dahlias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. 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 Ocean Shores the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ocean Shores is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ocean Shores you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your dahlias in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ocean Shores

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Ocean Shores

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ocean Shores.