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.

The first chance to plant oriental poppies in Dumfries can be figured out by looking at 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.

Oriental poppies do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Dumfries 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. Any later than that and 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Dumfries. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Dumfries may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Dumfries last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your oriental poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dumfries

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

Plants to Grow in Dumfries

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