When to Plant Trailing Portulaca in Whitefish, MT

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

The first opportunity to plant trailing portulaca in Whitefish should be determined by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Trailing Portulaca require warm weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant trailing portulaca
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant trailing portulaca
Probably not a good time to plant trailing portulaca

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Whitefish 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. Any later than that and 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 April 15 in Whitefish. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Whitefish is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Whitefish it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your trailing portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Whitefish

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Whitefish

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