When to Plant Oriental poppies in Bowling Green, KY

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when you can plant oriental poppies is to check out the USDA zone info for Bowling Green.


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 moderately cold tolerant.

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 Bowling Green 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. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bowling Green. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Bowling Green is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bowling Green it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bowling Green

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Bowling Green

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bowling Green.