One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 Gilberts should be reviewed to estimate when it's possible to plant oriental poppies.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

You can plant oriental poppies a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Gilberts 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Gilberts is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gilberts you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your oriental poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gilberts

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Gilberts

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