When to Plant Oriental poppies in El Cajon, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant oriental poppies in El Cajon can be determined by checking out 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 are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in El Cajon 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 oriental poppies and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in El Cajon. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for El Cajon is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in El Cajon you get a frost after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to cover your oriental poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Cajon

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 El Cajon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Cajon.