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.

You can determine when it's the best time to plant elephant ears in Detroit Lakes 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.

Since elephant ears are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Detroit Lakes 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. If you wait 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 couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Detroit Lakes the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -35°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Detroit Lakes is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Detroit Lakes last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Detroit Lakes

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Detroit Lakes

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Detroit Lakes.