One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Oakland you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant platycodon by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Platycodon

Frost tolerance for platycodon:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant platycodon just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant platycodon and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your platycodon may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your platycodon indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Oakland. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Oakland and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Oakland you get a frost after January 31 so always be ready to cover your platycodon if you have a surprise late frost.

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.