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 way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant impatiens is to use the USDA zone info for San Rafael.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

It's a bad idea to plant impatiens until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in San Rafael is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant impatiens and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your impatiens may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your impatiens indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in San Rafael. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Rafael and it is different every year. Since half of the time in San Rafael you get a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your impatiens if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Rafael

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in San Rafael

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Rafael.