When to Plant Oleander in Santa Fe, NM

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The first chance to plant oleander in Santa Fe should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Oleander

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

It's a bad idea to plant oleander until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant oleander
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant oleander
Probably not a good time to plant oleander

The earliest that you can plant oleander in Santa Fe is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant oleander and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oleander may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your oleander indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Santa Fe. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Fe is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Fe you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your oleander if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Fe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Santa Fe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Fe.