Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Santa Cruz you can figure out when it's the best time to plant trailing portulaca by using the USDA zone info.

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.

Since trailing portulaca are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Santa Cruz 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 little bit earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Santa Cruz. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Santa Cruz and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Cruz you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your trailing portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Cruz

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 Santa Cruz

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Cruz.