One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Portland can be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant fuchsia.

Planting Calendar for Fuchsia

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

Fuchsia do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant fuchsia in Portland 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 fuchsia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your fuchsia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your fuchsia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Portland. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portland is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Portland it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your fuchsia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Portland

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