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.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant poppies is to use the USDA zone info for Elyria.

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 plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Elyria 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. Starting your poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elyria the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elyria is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Elyria you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elyria

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 Elyria

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