One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Orange you can estimate when it's the best time to plant elephant ears by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Elephant Ears

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

You should not plant elephant ears until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in Orange is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. Any later than that and your elephant ears may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your elephant ears indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Orange. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

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

USDA Zone Info for Orange

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

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

Plants to Grow in Orange

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