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.

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant oriental poppies by looking at the USDA zone info for Pensacola.

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 are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Pensacola 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 grow to maturity. 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 February 15 in Pensacola. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pensacola is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Pensacola you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pensacola

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Pensacola

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