One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant bee balm is to examine the USDA zone info for Troy.

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 do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Troy 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. If you wait 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 April 15 in Troy. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Troy is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Troy you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your bee balm in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Troy

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Troy

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