One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant oriental poppies is to check out the USDA zone info for Moraga.

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 tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Moraga 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oriental poppies may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Moraga. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Moraga 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 Moraga you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your oriental poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Moraga

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Moraga

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