One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Birmingham you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant trailing portulaca.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Since trailing portulaca are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Birmingham 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 trailing portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your trailing 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 March 15 in Birmingham. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Birmingham is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Birmingham it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Birmingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Birmingham

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