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.

It's a good idea to determine when to plant elephant ears by using the USDA zone info for Salinas.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

Frost tolerance for elephant ears:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Elephant Ears are not cold tolerant which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Salinas is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your elephant ears may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Salinas. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Salinas is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Salinas it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your elephant ears if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salinas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Salinas

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