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

In Alexandria you can figure out when it's the best time to plant portulaca by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant portulaca until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Alexandria is May. However, you really should wait until June 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

In Alexandria the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alexandria is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Alexandria you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Alexandria

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