Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 sunflowers in Oakland should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sunflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Oakland. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oakland is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Oakland there is a last frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have 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.