Sticking out Dahlias

 ^^^^^  As sunshineband says.  

It is best to plant out when you believe last frost has gone, and if May is to be the coldest for a while it might be wise to leave until early June. Just try and gauge it to your advantage.

Also dahlias do not like to have their feet in water, and it would rot off the seeds (or the tubers after first year). So again if there are lots of rain forecast this would not be ideal planting conditions.

As well as slugs and snails eating the dahlia greenery, earwigs eat the newly opened florets on the flower, so keep a watch out for them.

I have noticed bees sleeping in the larger flower petal type of dahlias on summer evenings, it always makes me smile when I see that.

To combat the earwigs, insert a bamboo cane amongst the dahlias so that the top of it is about 3ft high. Fill a terracotta 3in pot with straw and place it upside down on the cane. The earwig,s go into the straw to sleep/hide and are easily collected and dispatched.