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When to Plant Poppies in Bay City, MI

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Bay City you will be able to determine when it's the best time 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.

Since poppies are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Bay City 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 April 15 in Bay City. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bay City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bay City last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bay City

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 Bay City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bay City.