One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Springfield you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant banana.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

It's a bad idea to plant banana until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Springfield 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 really do well. Starting your banana indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Springfield the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Springfield is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Springfield you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your banana if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Springfield

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 Springfield

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