Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when you can plant oriental poppies is to use the USDA zone info for Waunakee.

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 plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant oriental poppies in Waunakee 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. Any later than that and your oriental poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your oriental poppies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Waunakee. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Waunakee and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Waunakee you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your oriental poppies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waunakee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Waunakee

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