One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant oriental poppies is to check out the USDA zone info for Rathdrum.

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 can survive in moderate 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 Rathdrum 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oriental poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rathdrum. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rathdrum is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rathdrum it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rathdrum

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Rathdrum

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