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.

A way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant oleander is to refer to the USDA zone info for Jefferson.

Planting Calendar for Oleander

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

Since oleander do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant oleander in Jefferson 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. Any later than that and your oleander may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your oleander indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Jefferson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Jefferson is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Jefferson it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your oleander if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Jefferson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Jefferson

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