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.

You should be able to determine when you can plant elephant ears by reviewing the USDA zone info for San Jose.

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.

It's not a good idea to plant elephant ears until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in San Jose 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. Any later than that and your elephant ears may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in San Jose. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for San Jose is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in San Jose you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Jose

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 San Jose

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Jose.