One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when you can plant banana by looking at the USDA zone info for Rockford.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

It's a bad idea to plant banana until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Rockford 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. Any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rockford the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rockford may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rockford it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your banana if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

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 Rockford

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