The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Charlestown you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant balsam by checking out 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.

You should not plant balsam until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Charlestown 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Charlestown. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Charlestown is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Charlestown you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your balsam if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charlestown

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 Charlestown

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