The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Pekin you can determine when it's a good idea to plant oriental poppies by checking out the USDA zone info.

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 just a bit 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 Pekin 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. Any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Pekin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Pekin is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Pekin you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Pekin

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 Pekin

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