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.

One way of estimating when to plant california poppy is to examine the USDA zone info for Eldorado.

Planting Calendar for California Poppy

Frost tolerance for california poppy:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant california poppy just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant california poppy in Eldorado is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant california poppy and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your california poppy may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your california poppy indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Eldorado. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Eldorado is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Eldorado it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your california poppy if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Eldorado

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 Eldorado

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