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.

In Iron Mountain you can figure out when to plant elephant ears by referring to 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.

It's a bad idea to plant elephant ears until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Iron Mountain is May. However, you really should wait until June 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Iron Mountain. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Iron Mountain is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Iron Mountain you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Iron Mountain

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Iron Mountain

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Iron Mountain.