When to Plant Bee Balm in Zone 1b

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 USDA zone info for Zone 1b can be looked at to determine when it's possible 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.

Bee Balm do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bee balm
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bee balm
Probably not a good time to plant bee balm

The earliest that you can plant bee balm in Zone 1b is June. However, you really should wait until July 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 July. 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on June 15 in Zone 1b. You can expect an average low temperature of -55°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 1b and it is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 1b you get a frost after June 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your bee balm in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 1b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 1b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)June 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)July 15
Lowest Expected Low-55°F
Highest Expected Low-50°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -55°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -50°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 1b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 1b.