One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant banana by looking at the USDA zone info for Prospect Heights.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

Since banana are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Prospect Heights 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Prospect Heights is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Prospect Heights you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your banana in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Prospect Heights

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 Prospect Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Prospect Heights.