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 earliest that you can plant lenten rose in Portland should be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lenten Rose

Frost tolerance for lenten rose:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Lenten Rose do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lenten rose in Portland is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lenten rose and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lenten rose may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your lenten rose indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Portland 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 Portland is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Portland there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lenten rose if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

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 Portland

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