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.

One way of making a decision about when to plant oleander is to check out the USDA zone info for Port Townsend.

Planting Calendar for Oleander

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant oleander until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant oleander in Port Townsend 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. Any later than that and your oleander may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your oleander indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Port Townsend. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Port Townsend is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Port Townsend you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your oleander in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Port Townsend

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Port Townsend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Townsend.