One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant trailing portulaca is to consult the USDA zone info for Fairfax.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

Frost tolerance for trailing portulaca:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You should not plant trailing portulaca until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Fairfax is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Fairfax. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairfax is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairfax you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairfax

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairfax

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