When to Plant Poppies in Livermore, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when you can plant poppies by checking out the USDA zone info for Livermore.


Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Since poppies are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Livermore 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 poppies and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Livermore. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Livermore may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Livermore you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Livermore

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Livermore

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