One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 getting a good idea when to plant purslane is to consult the USDA zone info for Loudon.

Planting Calendar for Purslane

Frost tolerance for purslane:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Purslane can survive in very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant purslane in Loudon is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant purslane and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purslane may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your purslane indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Loudon. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Loudon may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Loudon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your purslane if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Loudon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Loudon

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