One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when to plant trailing portulaca is to refer to the USDA zone info for Springfield.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant trailing portulaca until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Springfield 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. If you wait any later than that and your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your trailing portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Springfield the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Springfield is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Springfield you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your trailing portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Springfield

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 Springfield

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