One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant portulaca is to refer to the USDA zone info for Reading.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant portulaca until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Reading 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Reading. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Reading is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Reading you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Reading

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Reading

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