One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant impatiens is to look at the USDA zone info for Cornelius.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

Since impatiens are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Cornelius 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 little bit earlier by starting your impatiens indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Cornelius. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cornelius is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cornelius it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your impatiens in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cornelius

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Cornelius

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