One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in West Sacramento can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Since balsam are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in West Sacramento is March. However, you really should wait until April 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. Any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to grow to maturity. 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 all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in West Sacramento. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for West Sacramento is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in West Sacramento it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your balsam in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Sacramento

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in West Sacramento

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Sacramento.