One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The first chance to plant trailing portulaca in Western Springs can be figured out by using 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.

It's probably a bad idea to plant trailing portulaca until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Western Springs 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. If you wait any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Western Springs the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Western Springs is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Western Springs you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your trailing portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Western Springs

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 Western Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Western Springs.