One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Oak Forest you can determine when it's the best time to plant banana by looking at 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.

Banana are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Oak Forest 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 fully mature. If you are starting your banana indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Oak Forest. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Oak Forest and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Oak Forest it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your banana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Forest

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 Oak Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Forest.