One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 estimating when it's the best time to plant hosta is to examine the USDA zone info for Oakland.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

Frost tolerance for hosta:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant hosta a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Oakland is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hosta and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hosta may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your hosta indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Oakland. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oakland is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Oakland you get a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hosta in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Oakland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Oakland

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