One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant elephant ears is to consult the USDA zone info for Urbandale.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

You really shouldn't plant elephant ears until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Urbandale 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. Any later than that and your elephant ears may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your elephant ears indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Urbandale. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Urbandale may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Urbandale it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your elephant ears if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Urbandale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Urbandale

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