Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant portulaca is to look at the USDA zone info for Newport Beach.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

You really shouldn't plant portulaca until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Newport Beach is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Newport Beach. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport Beach is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Newport Beach last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newport Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Newport Beach.