One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for San Diego should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's possible 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 has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant elephant ears until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant elephant ears in San Diego 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your elephant ears may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your elephant ears indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in San Diego. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Diego is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in San Diego you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your elephant ears if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Diego

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 San Diego

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Diego.