One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 common way of making a decision about when to plant portulaca is to examine the USDA zone info for Norwood.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

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

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Norwood 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. If you wait any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Norwood is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Norwood there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Norwood

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 Norwood

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