One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You can determine when to plant oriental poppies in Odessa by referring to 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Odessa 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. If you wait any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Odessa. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Odessa is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Odessa you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Odessa

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 Odessa

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