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.

In Lansing you can determine when it's the best time 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 do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Lansing 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. Starting your oriental poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Lansing. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lansing may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lansing you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your oriental poppies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lansing

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 Lansing

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