One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of determining when to plant oriental poppies is to consult the USDA zone info for Commerce City.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

You can plant oriental poppies a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Commerce City 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 oriental poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Commerce City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Commerce City is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Commerce City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Commerce City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Commerce City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Commerce City.