One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 figuring out when it's the best time to plant oleander is to look at the USDA zone info for Yakima.

Planting Calendar for Oleander

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

Since oleander are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant oleander in Yakima 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your oleander indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Yakima. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Yakima is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Yakima you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your oleander if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Yakima

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 Yakima

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