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

In Bensenville you can estimate when it's possible to plant trailing portulaca by referring to 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.

It's probably not a good idea to plant trailing portulaca until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Bensenville 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Bensenville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Bensenville is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Bensenville there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your trailing portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bensenville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Bensenville

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