One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when to plant poppies is to use the USDA zone info for Ilion.

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 moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Ilion 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. Any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Ilion. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ilion may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ilion you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ilion

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ilion

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