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.

In Bloomingdale you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant poppies by using 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.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Bloomingdale 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 poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bloomingdale. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bloomingdale is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bloomingdale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your poppies in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bloomingdale

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 Bloomingdale

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