When to Plant Portulaca in Bradley, 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Bradley it's a good idea to figure out when it's the best time to plant portulaca.


Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Portulaca do not do well in cold weather which means that it is 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 portulaca
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant portulaca
Probably not a good time to plant portulaca

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Bradley 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 portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Bradley the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Bradley is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Bradley you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bradley

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 Bradley

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