Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Elgin you can estimate when it's the best time to plant banana by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

Since banana are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Elgin 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 grow to maturity. 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

In Elgin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elgin and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Elgin you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your banana in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

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 Elgin

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