One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Little Rock you can determine when it's the best time to plant poppies by reviewing 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.

Poppies are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Little Rock 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 grow to maturity. Starting your poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Little Rock the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Little Rock is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Little Rock last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Little Rock

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Little Rock

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Little Rock.