One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant bee balm in Port Arthur can be determined by checking out 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 slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Port Arthur is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. If you wait any later than that and your bee balm may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bee balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Port Arthur. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Port Arthur is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Port Arthur you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your bee balm if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Port Arthur

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Port Arthur

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Port Arthur.