Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant california poppy is to look at the USDA zone info for Albemarle.

Planting Calendar for California Poppy

Frost tolerance for california poppy:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant california poppy just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant california poppy in Albemarle 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 california poppy and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your california poppy may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your california poppy indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Albemarle may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Albemarle you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your california poppy in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albemarle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Albemarle

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