Planting guide

When to plant banana

Tropical clumps with great foliage; give them warmth, water and shelter. In Melbourne it goes in Oct–Dec.

Start as: Potted plant
Ready in: 2+ years to the first crop
Spacing: 300 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Plenty
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: Yes, plant after the last frost

When it goes in

● means banana can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Melbourne	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Perth	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Adelaide	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Gold Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Newcastle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Canberra	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Central Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Geelong	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wollongong	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Hobart	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Townsville	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Cairns	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Toowoomba	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Darwin	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Ballarat	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mandurah	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bendigo	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Launceston	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mackay	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bunbury	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mildura	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Wellington	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Christchurch	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
London	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Austin	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○
Toronto	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Johannesburg	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Mumbai	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○
Paris	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

How to plant banana

Plant a sucker or tissue-culture plant in rich, mulched soil.
Water often and shelter from wind.
Feed every month in the warm season.
Cut the bunch when fruit rounds out; ripen indoors.

Banana varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Cavendish Classicheavy-cropper · 39–64 wksThe standard supermarket banana
Lady Finger Classicsweet · 43–64 wksSmall, sweet fruit on tall plants
Dwarf Cavendish Classicdwarf · pot-friendly · heavy-cropper · 39–60 wksShort plants for small yards
Blue Java Adventurouscold-hardy · sweet · 50–71 wksIce-cream banana; hardy and vanilla-flavoured

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Chive, Comfrey, Pumpkin

Banana by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lemon · Lime · Apple · Fig · Avocado · Mango

Not sure banana is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now