Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's possible to plant poppies by using the USDA zone info for Rockford.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies tend to make it in moderate cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Rockford 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. If you wait any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Rockford. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rockford and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rockford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your poppies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

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 Rockford

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