One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Forest City you can determine when you can plant bee balm by using the USDA zone info.

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 do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Forest City 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. Any later than that and your bee balm may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bee balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Forest City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Forest City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Forest City you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your bee balm if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Forest City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Forest City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Forest City.