When to Plant Oriental poppies in Lone Tree, CO

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

One way of determining when you can plant oriental poppies is to look at the USDA zone info for Lone Tree.


Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

Since oriental poppies do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender 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 Lone Tree 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. Any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lone Tree. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lone Tree may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Lone Tree you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lone Tree

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 Lone Tree

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lone Tree.