One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Sanibel can be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Sanibel 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 poppies and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your poppies may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Sanibel. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sanibel is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sanibel last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to cover your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sanibel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Sanibel

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