When to Plant Iceland Poppy in Iowa City, IA

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

By using the USDA zone info for Iowa City it's a good idea to estimate when to plant iceland poppy.


Planting Calendar for Iceland Poppy

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

Iceland Poppy do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant iceland poppy
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant iceland poppy
Probably not a good time to plant iceland poppy

The earliest that you can plant iceland poppy in Iowa City 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 iceland poppy and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your iceland poppy may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your iceland poppy indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Iowa City. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Iowa City is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Iowa City there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your iceland poppy in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Iowa City

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 Iowa City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Iowa City.