One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant trailing portulaca by referring to the USDA zone info for Rio Rancho.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

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

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Rio Rancho 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Rio Rancho. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rio Rancho is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rio Rancho you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rio Rancho

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 Rio Rancho

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rio Rancho.