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.

The USDA zone info for Decatur should be used to determine when to plant elephant ears.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

Since elephant ears are not cold tolerant it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Decatur 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your elephant ears may not have a chance to really do well. 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 April 15 in Decatur. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Decatur is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Decatur it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your elephant ears in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Decatur

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