One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

The first opportunity to plant trailing portulaca in Island Lake should be figured out by checking out 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.

Trailing Portulaca require warm weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Island Lake 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 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 Island Lake. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Island Lake is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Island Lake last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your trailing portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Island Lake

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 Island Lake

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