When to Plant Portulaca in Oak Brook, IL

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

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Oak Brook should be estimated 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.

You can not 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 Oak Brook 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Brook is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Brook you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Brook

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 Oak Brook

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Brook.