Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden 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 figuring out when it's a good idea to plant portulaca is to refer to the USDA zone info for Middleton.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

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

Since portulaca do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant portulaca in Middleton 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Middleton. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Middleton is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Middleton you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your portulaca in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Middleton

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 Middleton

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