One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant trailing portulaca by looking at the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Trailing Portulaca are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Madison 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Madison. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Madison may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your trailing portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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