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.

A way of determining when to plant impatiens is to look at the USDA zone info for State College.

Planting Calendar for Impatiens

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

Since impatiens are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant impatiens in State College 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 grow to maturity. Starting your impatiens indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for State College is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in State College you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your impatiens in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for State College

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in State College

You may be interested in your other planting guides for State College.