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When to Plant Balsam in Fountain Valley, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 you can plant balsam is to check out the USDA zone info for Fountain Valley.


Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant balsam until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant balsam
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant balsam
Probably not a good time to plant balsam

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Fountain Valley 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. If you wait any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your balsam indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Fountain Valley. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Always 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 Fountain Valley and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fountain Valley you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your balsam in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fountain Valley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low35°F
Highest Expected Low40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Fountain Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fountain Valley.