One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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 common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant oleander is to consult the USDA zone info for Elgin.

Planting Calendar for Oleander

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant oleander until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant oleander in Elgin 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oleander may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oleander indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Elgin. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elgin is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Elgin there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your oleander if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Elgin

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