One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

You will be able to determine when you can plant oriental poppies by looking at the USDA zone info for Chatham.

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 some cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Chatham 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. If you wait any later than that and 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Chatham. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Chatham may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Chatham you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chatham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chatham

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