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 will be able to determine when to plant trailing portulaca by reviewing the USDA zone info for New Castle.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant trailing portulaca until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant trailing 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 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 few weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Castle. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for New Castle and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Castle you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.