One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant skullcap is to refer to the USDA zone info for Oakland.

Planting Calendar for Skullcap

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

You should not plant skullcap until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant skullcap in Oakland 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 skullcap and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your skullcap may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your skullcap indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Oakland the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Oakland may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Oakland you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your skullcap if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oakland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Oakland

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