One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The USDA zone info for Ruston can be used to determine when it's the best time 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.

It's a bad idea to plant elephant ears until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Ruston 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. If you wait any later than that and your elephant ears may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Ruston. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ruston and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ruston last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Ruston

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