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

The USDA zone info for Charleston can be read to estimate when it's a good idea to plant banana.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

It's not a good idea to plant banana until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Charleston 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. 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 April 15 in Charleston. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Charleston may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Charleston you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your banana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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