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

The best time to plant trailing portulaca in West Des Moines can be determined by looking at 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 has passed.

Trailing Portulaca do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in West Des Moines 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In West Des Moines the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for West Des Moines is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in West Des Moines last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your trailing portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Des Moines

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 West Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Des Moines.