One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Dickinson can be estimated by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since balsam do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Dickinson is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Dickinson. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dickinson and it is different every year. Half of the time in Dickinson it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your balsam if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dickinson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dickinson

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