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.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant bee balm in Richmond by looking at 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.

You can plant bee balm slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Richmond is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 August. If you wait any later than that and 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Richmond. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your bee balm if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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