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 Ponca City you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant bee balm by looking at 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.

Since bee balm do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Ponca 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bee balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Ponca City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ponca City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ponca City there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your bee balm in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ponca City

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 Ponca City

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