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.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's possible to plant poppies by referring to the USDA zone info for Rolla.

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 bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Rolla 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rolla. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rolla is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rolla last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rolla

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Rolla

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