One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Shenandoah should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

Since banana do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Shenandoah 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your banana may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your banana indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Shenandoah. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shenandoah is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Shenandoah you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your banana if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shenandoah

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Shenandoah

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