When to Plant Iceland Poppy in Waterloo, IA

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.

The USDA zone info for Waterloo can be looked at to figure out when it's the best time 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.

You can plant iceland poppy a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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 Waterloo 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 few weeks earlier by starting your iceland poppy indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Waterloo. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waterloo last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your iceland poppy in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

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 Waterloo

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