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

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant poppies by referring to the USDA zone info for Santa Fe.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Santa Fe 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Santa Fe may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Santa Fe last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Fe

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 Low	0°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 Santa Fe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Fe.