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.

In Madison you can determine when it's possible 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.

Since impatiens do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Madison 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your impatiens may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your impatiens indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Madison the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madison and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Madison you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your impatiens in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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