One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant elephant ears by reviewing the USDA zone info for San Mateo.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

Since elephant ears are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in San Mateo is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in San Mateo. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for San Mateo and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in San Mateo there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to cover your elephant ears in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Mateo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in San Mateo

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