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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant banana is to examine the USDA zone info for Springfield.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

You really shouldn't plant banana until after the last frost has passed because they require warm 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. If you wait any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your banana indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Springfield. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Springfield is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Springfield you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your banana if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Springfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Springfield

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