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 USDA zone info for Big Rapids can be reviewed to figure out when to plant impatiens.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

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

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Big Rapids 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 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Big Rapids. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Big Rapids is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Big Rapids last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your impatiens in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Big Rapids

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 Big Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Rapids.