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.

The USDA zone info for Sanibel should be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time 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 when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant trailing portulaca until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Sanibel 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your trailing portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sanibel the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sanibel and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sanibel last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your trailing portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sanibel

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 Sanibel

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Sanibel.