When to Plant Poppies in Princeton, NJ

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

You should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant poppies by looking at the USDA zone info for Princeton.


Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant poppies
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant poppies
Probably not a good time to plant poppies

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Princeton 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Princeton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Princeton is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Princeton there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your poppies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Princeton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Princeton

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