When to Plant Bee Balm in Rocky Mount, NC

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when to plant bee balm in Rocky Mount by reviewing 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 are barely cold tolerant which means 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 Rocky Mount 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. If you wait any later than that and your bee balm may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your bee balm indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Rocky Mount. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember 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 Rocky Mount and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rocky Mount you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your bee balm if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rocky Mount

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 Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 Rocky Mount

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rocky Mount.