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When to Plant Trailing Portulaca in Mason City, IA

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 first opportunity to plant trailing portulaca in Mason City can be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant trailing portulaca until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant trailing portulaca
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant trailing portulaca
Probably not a good time to plant trailing portulaca

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Mason City 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. 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Mason City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mason City is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mason City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mason City

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 Mason City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mason City.