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

One way of estimating when to plant trailing portulaca is to examine the USDA zone info for Fort Myers Beach.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant trailing portulaca until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Fort Myers 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 trailing portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 has passed is on January 31 in Fort Myers Beach. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Myers Beach may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fort Myers Beach you get a frost after January 31 be ready to protect your trailing portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Myers Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Myers Beach

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