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.

The USDA zone info for Gastonia can be read to determine when you can plant oriental poppies.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

Since oriental 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 oriental poppies in Gastonia 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 oriental poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oriental poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Gastonia. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gastonia is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Gastonia you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your oriental poppies in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gastonia

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 Gastonia

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