Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Cape Girardeau should be figured out 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 has passed.

Portulaca do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Cape Girardeau 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. If you wait any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cape Girardeau. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Cape Girardeau and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Cape Girardeau you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cape Girardeau

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Cape Girardeau

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cape Girardeau.