When to Plant Elephant Ears in Mountainside, NJ

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 figure out when to plant elephant ears in Mountainside 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 when the weather gets warmer.

Elephant Ears are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant elephant ears
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant elephant ears
Probably not a good time to plant elephant ears

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Mountainside 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your elephant ears indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Mountainside the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Mountainside and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Mountainside you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mountainside

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mountainside

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