One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant banana is to refer to the USDA zone info for South Boston.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

It's not a good 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 South Boston 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 really do well. Starting your banana indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Boston. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Boston is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in South Boston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your banana if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Boston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in South Boston

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Boston.