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

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant portulaca is to use the USDA zone info for Atoka.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

Frost tolerance for portulaca:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since portulaca do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Atoka is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Atoka. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Atoka and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Atoka last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Atoka

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Atoka

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