One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 referring to the USDA zone info for Chesterfield it's a good idea to determine when 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.

You can plant poppies a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Chesterfield 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Chesterfield. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Chesterfield is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Chesterfield you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chesterfield

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 Chesterfield

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