One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant impatiens in Elmhurst should be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

Impatiens are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Elmhurst 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 really do well. 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

In Elmhurst the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Elmhurst is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmhurst you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your impatiens if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elmhurst

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 Elmhurst

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