When to Plant Oriental poppies in Roscoe, IL

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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Roscoe it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time 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.

Oriental poppies are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant oriental poppies
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant oriental poppies
Probably not a good time to plant oriental poppies

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Roscoe 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oriental poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Roscoe is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Roscoe there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your oriental poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Roscoe

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 Roscoe

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