One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant portulaca is to look at the USDA zone info for New Roads.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

You really shouldn't plant portulaca until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in New Roads is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in New Roads. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for New Roads is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Roads it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Roads

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in New Roads

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Roads.