One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 common way of figuring out when you can plant trailing portulaca is to consult the USDA zone info for Sauk Rapids.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

Frost tolerance for trailing portulaca:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since trailing portulaca do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Sauk Rapids 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 trailing portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Sauk Rapids. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sauk Rapids is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Sauk Rapids last frost occurs after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sauk Rapids

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 Sauk Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Sauk Rapids.