One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant elephant ears is to use the USDA zone info for Cicero.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

Elephant Ears require warm weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Cicero 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 really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Cicero. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cicero may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cicero it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your elephant ears in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cicero

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 Cicero

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