One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant balsam is to examine the USDA zone info for Laurel.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant balsam until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Laurel 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 balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Laurel. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Laurel there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your balsam in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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