One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Charlotte you can estimate when to plant impatiens by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

You should not plant impatiens until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Charlotte 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your impatiens indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Charlotte is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Charlotte you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your impatiens if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charlotte

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 Charlotte

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