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

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant trailing portulaca is to check out the USDA zone info for Madera.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Since trailing portulaca require warm weather it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Madera 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. Any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Madera the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madera is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Madera you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your trailing portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madera

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Madera

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