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.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Lexington can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

Oriental poppies do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Lexington 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 oriental poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lexington. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Lexington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Lexington

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