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.

The USDA zone info for Ripley can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant portulaca.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Since portulaca are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Ripley 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ripley. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ripley and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ripley you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ripley

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