One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Hillsboro it's a good idea to determine when you can plant balsam.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Balsam are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Hillsboro 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Hillsboro is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Hillsboro last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your balsam if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hillsboro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Hillsboro

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