Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant elephant ears is to examine the USDA zone info for Billings.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

Since elephant ears are not cold tolerant it is important 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 Billings 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Billings. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Billings is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Billings it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your elephant ears if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Billings

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Billings

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