One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's possible to plant portulaca by referring to the USDA zone info for Mineola.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

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

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Mineola 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. If you wait any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your 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 March 15 in Mineola. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mineola is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Mineola you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mineola

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Mineola

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