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

By referring to the USDA zone info for Marathon it's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant oriental poppies.

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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Marathon 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 November. Any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Marathon it never frosts. You can expect an average low temperature of 45°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marathon is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since it never frosts in Marathon you do not have to be ready to cover your oriental poppies in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marathon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 11b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	Never
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	Never
Lowest Expected Low	45°F
Highest Expected Low	50°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 45°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 50°F.

Plants to Grow in Marathon

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