When to Plant Portulaca in New York, NY

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

You can determine when it's possible to plant portulaca in New York by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

It's not a good idea to plant portulaca until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in New York 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. Starting your portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in New York. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for New York may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in New York there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New York

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 Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 New York

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New York.