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.

A way of determining when to plant oriental poppies is to consult the USDA zone info for Spokane.

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 tend to make it in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Spokane 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. Starting your oriental poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Spokane is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Spokane you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spokane

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 Spokane

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