When to Plant Portulaca in Ellettsville, IN

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Ellettsville can be used to figure out when you can plant portulaca.


Planting Calendar for Portulaca

Frost tolerance for portulaca: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

Portulaca require warm weather which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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 Ellettsville 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. If you wait 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 Ellettsville. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ellettsville is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ellettsville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ellettsville

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 Ellettsville

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