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

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant portulaca is to examine the USDA zone info for Three Rivers.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Portulaca do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Three Rivers 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. Any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Three Rivers. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Three Rivers may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Three Rivers there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Three Rivers

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 Three Rivers

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Three Rivers.