One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant oriental poppies is to refer to the USDA zone info for Valdosta.

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 do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Valdosta 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. If you wait any later than that and 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 March 15 in Valdosta. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Valdosta is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Valdosta you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Valdosta

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Valdosta

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