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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant poppies is to use the USDA zone info for Rathdrum.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant 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 poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Rathdrum. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Rathdrum may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rathdrum it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.