When to Plant Bee Balm in Minnetonka, MN

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's possible to plant bee balm by looking at the USDA zone info for Minnetonka.


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 are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bee balm
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bee balm
Probably not a good time to plant bee balm

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Minnetonka 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 bee balm and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bee balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bee balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Minnetonka. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Minnetonka may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Minnetonka last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your bee balm in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Minnetonka

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Minnetonka

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