When to Plant Elephant Ears in Nashville, TN

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Nashville should be reffered to in order to estimate when to plant elephant ears.


Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

Elephant Ears do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost 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 Nashville 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

In Nashville 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.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Nashville and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Nashville last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your elephant ears in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Nashville

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 Nashville

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