When to Plant Trailing Portulaca in Blue Island, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant trailing portulaca by using the USDA zone info for Blue Island.


Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

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

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 Blue Island 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. 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

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Blue Island. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Blue Island and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Blue Island you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your trailing portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Blue Island

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Blue Island

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Blue Island.