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

By looking at the USDA zone info for Port Townsend it's possible to determine when it's possible to plant poppies.

Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Poppies can survive in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Port Townsend. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Port Townsend is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Port Townsend you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Port Townsend

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 Port Townsend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Townsend.