One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Rifle can be reffered to in order to figure out when to plant impatiens.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

You should not 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 Rifle 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 impatiens and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your impatiens may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your impatiens indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rifle is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rifle last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your impatiens if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rifle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rifle

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