When to Plant Poppies in Fontana, CA

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.

In Fontana you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant poppies by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Since poppies do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Fontana is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant poppies and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your poppies 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 January 31 in Fontana. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fontana and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Fontana there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fontana

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Fontana

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