One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of figuring out when to plant elephant ears is to look at the USDA zone info for Mansfield.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

Frost tolerance for elephant ears:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Elephant Ears require warm weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Mansfield 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 really do well. If you are starting your elephant ears indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Mansfield. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Mansfield is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Mansfield you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your elephant ears in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mansfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Mansfield

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