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.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant balsam is to check out the USDA zone info for Albany.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Balsam require warm weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Albany is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balsam and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balsam may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your balsam indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Albany the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Albany and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Albany there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your balsam if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Albany

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Albany

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