One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant poppies is to look at the USDA zone info for Philadelphia.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

Frost tolerance for poppies:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Poppies tend to make it in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Philadelphia 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 fully mature. 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

In Philadelphia the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Philadelphia and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Philadelphia you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Philadelphia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Philadelphia

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