One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant banana is to refer to the USDA zone info for Wauconda.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

It's not a good idea to plant banana until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Wauconda 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Wauconda. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Wauconda is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Wauconda there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your banana if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Wauconda

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 Wauconda

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