Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 San Diego can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant bee balm.

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 are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in San Diego 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bee balm may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bee balm indoors.

Last Frost Date

In San Diego the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for San Diego may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in San Diego there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your bee balm in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Diego

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 San Diego

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Diego.