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.

A way of estimating when you can plant balsam is to consult the USDA zone info for Sammamish.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

It's not a good idea to plant balsam until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Sammamish 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 little bit earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Sammamish the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sammamish is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sammamish you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your balsam in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sammamish

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Sammamish

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