One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the 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 South Gate.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Since balsam do not do well in cold weather it is important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in South Gate 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 fully mature. If you are starting your balsam indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in South Gate. You should expect an average low temperature of 35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Gate is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in South Gate last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your balsam in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Gate

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 South Gate

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Gate.