Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Lake City it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant balsam.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant balsam until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Lake City 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 few weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lake City. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Lake City is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake City you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your balsam in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Lake City

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