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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant banana is to examine the USDA zone info for Laurel.

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 has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Laurel 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 fully mature. If you are starting your banana indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Laurel. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Laurel you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your banana if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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