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

A way of determining when it's possible to plant poppies is to examine the USDA zone info for Swartz Creek.

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 moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Swartz Creek 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. If you are starting your 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 Swartz Creek. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Swartz Creek is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Swartz Creek last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Swartz Creek

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 Swartz Creek

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Swartz Creek.