When to Plant Elephant Ears in Washingtonville, NY

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The first opportunity to plant elephant ears in Washingtonville should be figured out by using 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 do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost has passed 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 Washingtonville 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your elephant ears indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Washingtonville. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Washingtonville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Washingtonville last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your elephant ears if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Washingtonville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Washingtonville

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