The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant lemon balm is to check out the USDA zone info for Hannibal.

Planting Calendar for Lemon balm

Frost tolerance for lemon balm:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant lemon balm just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Hannibal 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 lemon balm and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lemon balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lemon balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hannibal. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hannibal is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Hannibal it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your lemon balm in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hannibal

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 Hannibal

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