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.

A common way of determining when to plant bee balm is to look at the USDA zone info for Franklin.

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.

Since bee balm are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Franklin is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. Any later than that and your bee balm may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your bee balm indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Franklin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Franklin is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bee balm if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Franklin

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