When to Plant Purslane in Palm Desert, CA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant purslane in Palm Desert should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Purslane

Frost tolerance for purslane: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant purslane just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant purslane
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant purslane
Probably not a good time to plant purslane

The earliest that you can plant purslane in Palm Desert 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 purslane and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your purslane may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your purslane indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Palm Desert. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Palm Desert is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Palm Desert it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your purslane if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palm Desert

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Palm Desert

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palm Desert.