One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

One way of figuring out when to plant poppies is to use the USDA zone info for Reno.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Since poppies are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Reno 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. If you wait any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Reno. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Reno is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Reno you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Reno

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Reno

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