One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A way of determining when you can plant trailing portulaca is to refer to the USDA zone info for Paris.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

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

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Paris 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. Starting your trailing portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Paris. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Paris is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Paris you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your trailing portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Paris

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 Paris

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