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.

In Hillsdale you can determine when to plant oriental poppies by using 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 well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Hillsdale 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hillsdale. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Hillsdale may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Hillsdale there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your oriental poppies in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hillsdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Hillsdale

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