One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to figure out when it's a good idea to plant trailing portulaca by checking out the USDA zone info for Fort Dodge.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Trailing Portulaca are not cold tolerant which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Fort Dodge is April. However, you really should wait until May 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 August. If you wait any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Fort Dodge. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Dodge is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Dodge you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your trailing portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Dodge

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Dodge

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