One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Oakland you can determine when it's a good idea to plant achimenes by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Achimenes

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

Achimenes do not do well in cold weather which means that you have to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant achimenes 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 achimenes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your achimenes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your achimenes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Oakland. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Oakland and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Oakland it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your achimenes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oakland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Oakland

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