The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when to plant impatiens is to use the USDA zone info for Storm Lake.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

You really shouldn't plant impatiens until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Storm Lake 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. If you wait any later than that and your impatiens may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your impatiens indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Storm Lake. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Storm Lake is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Storm Lake last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your impatiens if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Storm Lake

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 Storm Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Storm Lake.