Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine 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 opportunity to plant oleander in California can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Oleander

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

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

The earliest that you can plant oleander in California 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. If you wait 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in California. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for California is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in California you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your oleander if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for California

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 California

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