When to Plant Impatiens in Santa Barbara, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant impatiens by checking out the USDA zone info for Santa Barbara.


Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

Impatiens do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant impatiens
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant impatiens
Probably not a good time to plant impatiens

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Santa Barbara 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 really do well. Starting your impatiens indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Santa Barbara. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Santa Barbara is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Santa Barbara last frost occurs after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your impatiens if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Santa Barbara

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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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 Santa Barbara

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Santa Barbara.