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When to Plant California Poppy in Port Washington, WI

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 should be able to determine when it's possible to plant california poppy by looking at the USDA zone info for Port Washington.


Planting Calendar for California Poppy

Frost tolerance for california poppy: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since california poppy do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant california poppy
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant california poppy
Probably not a good time to plant california poppy

The earliest that you can plant california poppy in Port Washington 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 california poppy and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your california poppy may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your california poppy indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Port Washington. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Port Washington is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Port Washington there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your california poppy in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Port Washington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Port Washington

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