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.

You should be able to determine when you can plant balsam by using the USDA zone info for Hawthorne.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

It's a bad idea to plant balsam until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Hawthorne 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Hawthorne the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Hawthorne is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Hawthorne last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your balsam if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hawthorne

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 Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°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 Hawthorne

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