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.

A way of figuring out when you can plant portulaca is to examine the USDA zone info for Shreveport.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Since portulaca require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Shreveport 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Shreveport the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shreveport is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Shreveport it frosts late in the year after March 15 so always be ready to protect your portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shreveport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Shreveport

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