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When to Plant Trailing Portulaca in Downers Grove, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Downers Grove should be reviewed to estimate when it's possible to plant trailing portulaca.


Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Trailing Portulaca are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last 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 Downers Grove 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 grow to maturity. Starting your trailing portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Downers Grove is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Downers Grove you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your trailing portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Downers Grove

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 Downers Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Downers Grove.