The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant oleander is to refer to the USDA zone info for Shafter.

Planting Calendar for Oleander

Frost tolerance for oleander:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Oleander require warm weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant oleander and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your oleander may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your oleander indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Shafter. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Shafter and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Shafter it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your oleander if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shafter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Shafter

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