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

It's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant trailing portulaca by using the USDA zone info for West Chester.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

You really shouldn't plant trailing portulaca until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in West Chester 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your trailing portulaca may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your trailing portulaca indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in West Chester. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for West Chester is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in West Chester you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your trailing portulaca if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Chester

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 West Chester

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chester.