One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Independence should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's possible 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 require warm weather you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Independence 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 grow to maturity. 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

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Independence and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Independence you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your impatiens in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

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 Independence

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