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

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant bee balm is to look at the USDA zone info for Rochester.

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.

You can plant bee balm just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Rochester 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 really do well. Starting your bee balm indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Rochester. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Rochester is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rochester you get a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your bee balm in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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