One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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 a good idea to plant garden mums is to consult the USDA zone info for Oakland.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

Frost tolerance for garden mums:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Garden Mums can survive in moderate cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Oakland is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your garden mums may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your garden mums 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.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Oakland may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Oakland it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your garden mums if you have 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.