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.

The USDA zone info for Odessa should be read to figure out when to plant balsam.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

Balsam do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Odessa 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Odessa. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Odessa may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Odessa you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your balsam in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Odessa

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 Odessa

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