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.

In Canastota you can estimate when it's possible to plant bee balm by referring to 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 well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Canastota 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bee balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Canastota the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Canastota is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Canastota there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your bee balm if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Canastota

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Canastota

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