One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Mountain Home you can estimate when you can plant balsam by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Balsam are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Mountain Home is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. 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

In Mountain Home the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Mountain Home and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Mountain Home last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your balsam if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mountain Home

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Mountain Home

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mountain Home.