One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Skokie you can figure out when to plant oriental poppies by looking at 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.

Oriental poppies are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Skokie 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Skokie the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Skokie may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Skokie you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your oriental poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Skokie

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 Skokie

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