When to Plant Portulaca in Jacksonville, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Jacksonville you can estimate when to plant portulaca by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

It's not a good idea to plant portulaca until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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 Jacksonville 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Jacksonville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Jacksonville and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Jacksonville you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Jacksonville

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 Jacksonville

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