One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Derby it's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant banana.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

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

The earliest that you can plant banana in Derby 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 banana and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Derby. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Derby is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Derby last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your banana if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Derby

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Derby

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