When to Plant Poppies in Zone 1a

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant poppies is to examine the USDA zone info for Zone 1a.


Planting Calendar for Poppies

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

Since poppies do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant poppies in Zone 1a is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant poppies and expect a good harvest is probably July. If you wait any later than that and your poppies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your poppies indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on June 15 in Zone 1a. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -60°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 1a and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 1a there is a last frost after June 15 be ready to cover your poppies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 1a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 1a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)June 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)July 15
Lowest Expected Low-60°F
Highest Expected Low-55°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -60°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -55°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 1a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 1a.