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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant portulaca in Maple Valley by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant portulaca until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Maple Valley 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. 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 Maple Valley. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Maple Valley is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Maple Valley you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Maple Valley

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 Maple Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Maple Valley.