One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Wilmington should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant iceland poppy.

Planting Calendar for Iceland Poppy

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

Since iceland poppy are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant iceland poppy in Wilmington 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 iceland poppy and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your iceland poppy may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your iceland poppy indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Wilmington. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmington is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Wilmington it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your iceland poppy in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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