One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of making a decision about when to plant bee balm is to check out the USDA zone info for Broadview.

Planting Calendar for Bee Balm

Frost tolerance for bee balm:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bee Balm do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Broadview 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 bee balm and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bee balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bee balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Broadview. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Broadview is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Broadview it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your bee balm if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Broadview

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Broadview

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