When to Plant Elephant Ears in Troy, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant elephant ears in Troy should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant elephant ears until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant elephant ears
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant elephant ears
Probably not a good time to plant elephant ears

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Troy 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Troy. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Troy is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Troy it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Troy

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Troy

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