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.

In Asbury Park you can determine when it's possible to plant balsam by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Since balsam require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Asbury Park 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. If you wait any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your balsam indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Asbury Park. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Asbury Park is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Asbury Park last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your balsam in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Asbury Park

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Asbury Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Asbury Park.