One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 USDA zone info for Palo Alto should be reffered to in order to figure out when to plant trailing portulaca.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant trailing portulaca until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Palo Alto 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 really do well. Starting your trailing portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Palo Alto. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Palo Alto is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Palo Alto it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your trailing portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palo Alto

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 Palo Alto

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palo Alto.