When to Plant Portulaca in East Moline, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for East Moline it's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant portulaca.


Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Since portulaca are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost 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 East Moline 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 grow to maturity. 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in East Moline. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for East Moline may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in East Moline it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for East Moline

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 East Moline

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Moline.