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.

In Portales you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant portulaca by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

You should not plant portulaca until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Portales 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 fully mature. 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 Portales. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Portales is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Portales there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portales

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 Portales

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