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

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Charleston should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

Frost tolerance for elephant ears:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant elephant ears until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears 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 elephant ears and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your elephant ears may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your elephant ears indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Charleston the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Charleston is just an average 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 elephant ears in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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