The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant oriental poppies is to check out the USDA zone info for California.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

Oriental poppies do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in California 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. If you wait any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in California. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for California and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in California last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for California

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 California

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