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.

In Cary you can determine when it's a good idea to plant california poppy by looking at the USDA zone info.

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.

California Poppy do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant california poppy in Cary 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. If you wait any later than that and your california poppy may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your california poppy indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cary. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cary is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cary you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your california poppy in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cary

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 Cary

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