The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant poppies is to use the USDA zone info for Cornelius.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Cornelius 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Cornelius the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cornelius is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cornelius last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cornelius

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 Cornelius

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