When to Plant Iceland Poppy in Urbandale, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant iceland poppy is to look at the USDA zone info for Urbandale.


Planting Calendar for Iceland Poppy

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

Since iceland poppy 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 frost tender plants.

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 Urbandale 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your iceland poppy indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbandale. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Urbandale is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Urbandale it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your iceland poppy if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Urbandale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Urbandale

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