Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant balsam in Longwood by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Balsam require warm weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Longwood 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. If you wait any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Longwood. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Longwood is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Longwood you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your balsam if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Longwood

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 Longwood

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