When to Plant Elephant Ears in Urbana, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant elephant ears in Urbana by reviewing 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 has passed.

You should not 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 Urbana 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Urbana may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Urbana it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your elephant ears in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Urbana

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 Urbana

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