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

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant trailing portulaca is to consult the USDA zone info for Helotes.

Planting Calendar for Trailing Portulaca

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

Since trailing portulaca require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Helotes 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your trailing portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Helotes. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Helotes and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Helotes there is a last frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your trailing portulaca in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Helotes

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Helotes

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