One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant balsam by checking out the USDA zone info for Genoa.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Balsam do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Genoa 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 balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Genoa may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Genoa it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your balsam in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Genoa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Genoa

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