One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant poppies by looking at the USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake.

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 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 poppies in Big Bear Lake 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. Any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Big Bear Lake. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Big Bear Lake may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Big Bear Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Big Bear Lake

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 Big Bear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Bear Lake.