One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Chillicothe you should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant oriental poppies.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

Since oriental poppies are moderately cold tolerant 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 oriental poppies in Chillicothe 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 oriental poppies and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your oriental poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your oriental poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Chillicothe. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Chillicothe is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Chillicothe last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chillicothe

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Chillicothe

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