When to sow shirley poppies in Jiangmen

Why these dates

Sow direct four weeks before the last frost, on the surface with no covering - the seed needs light to germinate and disappears if raked in. Sowing onto snow or frosted ground works well and spaces the seed for you. It cannot be transplanted at any size, so sow where it is to flower.

Hardy to about -12C and germinates in cold soil, so it is a natural for autumn or late-winter sowing. Ends abruptly in the first real heat of summer.

Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Shirley poppies are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Jiangmen.

Jiangmen sits in zone 10b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

The median frost-free season here is 329 days, against 60 to 80 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Jiangmen →