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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant balsam is to use the USDA zone info for Barre.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant balsam until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Barre is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 fully mature. Starting your balsam indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Barre. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Barre is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Barre you get a frost after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your balsam in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Barre

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Barre

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