The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In La Crosse you can determine when it's the best time to plant oriental poppies 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.

Oriental poppies do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in La Crosse is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 August. 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 May 15 in La Crosse. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for La Crosse and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in La Crosse you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your oriental poppies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Crosse

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in La Crosse

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Crosse.