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.

The first chance to plant oriental poppies in Mansfield should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Oriental poppies

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

You can plant oriental poppies a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Mansfield 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. If you are starting your oriental poppies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Mansfield. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mansfield may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Mansfield you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your oriental poppies if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mansfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Mansfield

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