The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when to plant trailing portulaca is to use the USDA zone info for Joplin.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Since trailing portulaca do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Joplin 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 trailing portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Joplin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Joplin is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Joplin you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your trailing portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Joplin

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 Joplin

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