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

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant portulaca is to examine the USDA zone info for Fair Lawn.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Since portulaca require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Fair Lawn 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. Any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fair Lawn. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fair Lawn may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fair Lawn you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fair Lawn

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Fair Lawn

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fair Lawn.