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.

In Tuscaloosa you can estimate when it's possible to plant portulaca by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

It's a bad idea to plant portulaca until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Tuscaloosa 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Tuscaloosa. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Tuscaloosa is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Tuscaloosa you get a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tuscaloosa

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 Tuscaloosa

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