One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant trailing portulaca is to refer to the USDA zone info for Berlin.

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 probably a bad idea to plant trailing portulaca until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant trailing portulaca in Berlin 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 grow to maturity. Starting your trailing portulaca indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Berlin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Berlin is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Berlin it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your trailing portulaca if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Berlin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Berlin

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