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.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant trailing portulaca in Kankakee by reviewing 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.

Since trailing portulaca are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Kankakee 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. Any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your trailing portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Kankakee is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Kankakee last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your trailing portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Kankakee

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 Kankakee

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