The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Novato you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant banana by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Banana

Frost tolerance for banana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant banana until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Novato 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 banana and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your banana indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Novato. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Novato is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Novato it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your banana in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Novato

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Novato

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