One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You can figure out when to plant oriental poppies in Maple Valley 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 are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Maple Valley 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 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 Maple Valley. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Maple Valley is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Maple Valley last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your oriental poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Maple Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Maple Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Maple Valley.