🌿 When to Plant Lemon Balm
Vigorous spreader; grow in containers to control; calming herbal tea ingredient
📅 Planting Calendar by USDA Zone
Lemon Balm is a cool-season crop — plant it around your last spring frost, and you can often start it earlier indoors or sow again for a fall harvest. Find the exact start-indoors, transplant, and direct-sow dates for your USDA zone in the table below.
Select your zone to highlight your dates. All dates are calculated from each zone's average frost dates — see how we calculate them.
| Zone | Last Frost | Start Indoors | Transplant | Direct Sow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 2A | May 30 | Apr 4 | May 16 | May 2 |
| Zone 3B | May 15 | Mar 20 | May 1 | Apr 17 |
| Zone 4A | May 8 | Mar 13 | Apr 24 | Apr 10 |
| Zone 4B | May 1 | Mar 6 | Apr 17 | Apr 3 |
| Zone 5A | Apr 25 | Feb 28 | Apr 11 | Mar 28 |
| Zone 5B | Apr 18 | Feb 21 | Apr 4 | Mar 21 |
| Zone 6A | Apr 21 | Feb 24 | Apr 7 | Mar 24 |
| Zone 6B | Apr 10 | Feb 13 | Mar 27 | Mar 13 |
| Zone 7A | Apr 5 | Feb 8 | Mar 22 | Mar 8 |
| Zone 7B | Mar 28 | Jan 31 | Mar 14 | Feb 28 |
| Zone 8A | Mar 20 | Jan 23 | Mar 6 | Feb 20 |
| Zone 8B | Mar 12 | Jan 15 | Feb 26 | Feb 12 |
| Zone 9A | Feb 28 | Jan 3 | Feb 14 | Jan 31 |
| Zone 9B | Feb 15 | Dec 21 | Feb 1 | Jan 18 |
| Zone 10A | Feb 1 | Dec 7 | Jan 18 | Jan 4 |
| Zone 10B | Jan 15 | Nov 20 | Jan 1 | Dec 18 |
| Zone 11A | Jan 1 | Nov 6 | Dec 18 | Dec 4 |
Lemon balm is a vigorous, lemon-scented mint relative that’s impossible to kill — and equally hard to contain. Grow in a pot unless you want it everywhere.
Top Growing Tips
- Grows in containers to prevent spreading; can take over garden beds
- Cut back hard after flowering to prevent self-seeding
- Fresh leaves make a calming, lemon-flavored tea
- Attracts bees strongly — excellent near fruiting plants
- Shade-tolerant; one of the few herbs that handles partial shade
Companion Planting
Good companions: tomatoes, squash, all vegetables (bee attractant)
Avoid planting near: No serious conflicts, but keep contained
Harvest Timeline
Harvest anytime; best before flowering for tea and culinary use
Growing lemon balm in your region?
These dates come from your zone's frost windows. For the full month-by-month plan — succession sowing, variety picks, and timing tuned to your climate, not just your zone — our regional vegetable-gardening guides cover your area start to finish.
Find your regional growing guide