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 using the USDA zone info for International Falls it's a good idea to estimate when you can plant oriental poppies.

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 tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in International Falls is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oriental poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in International Falls. You should expect an average low temperature of -40°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for International Falls is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in International Falls it frosts late in the year after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your oriental poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for International Falls

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-40°F
Highest Expected Low	-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in International Falls

You may be interested in your other planting guides for International Falls.