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 Bourbonnais you can figure out when to plant banana by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

You should not plant banana until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Bourbonnais 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 really do well. If you are starting your banana indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Bourbonnais. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Bourbonnais you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your banana in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bourbonnais

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 Bourbonnais

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