One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The USDA zone info for Alexandria should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant poppies.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

Frost tolerance for poppies:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Poppies are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Alexandria 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 poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Alexandria. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Alexandria is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Alexandria there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Alexandria

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