One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant banana is to examine the USDA zone info for Lakeland.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

You really shouldn't plant banana until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Lakeland 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

In Lakeland the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

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

USDA Zone Info for Lakeland

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 Lakeland

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