When to Plant Oleander in Zone 5b

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant oleander is to use the USDA zone info for Zone 5b.


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's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant oleander
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant oleander
Probably not a good time to plant oleander

The earliest that you can plant oleander in Zone 5b 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oleander may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your oleander indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 5b and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 5b last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your oleander in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Zone 5b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5b.