The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In New Castle you can determine when to plant portulaca by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Portulaca require warm weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in New Castle 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

In New Castle the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for New Castle is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Castle you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your portulaca in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Castle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in New Castle

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