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 Altoona should be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant impatiens.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

You should not plant impatiens until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in Altoona 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Altoona. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Altoona may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Altoona you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your impatiens in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

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 Altoona

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