One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant impatiens in River Forest by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

Since impatiens are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in River Forest 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. Any later than that and your impatiens may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your impatiens indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in River Forest. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for River Forest is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in River Forest you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your impatiens if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for River Forest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in River Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for River Forest.