With spring right around the corner, it’s nice to think of flowering gardens.
But Honeysuckle Hill Nature Discovery Center says don’t plant too soon because it’s still too frosty out there.
“Get outside and enjoy your yard, make your plans for your planting, said Director Terri Johnson. “Then you can go out and scout and see what plants are available for your project that you have in mind.”
If you’re looking for flowing plants for a landscape garden Johnson says pansies are a good choice. They often carry over from fall and are still in bloom now. Cabbage can also withstand some frost. Terri’s favorite is a red buckeye landscape plant.
“It blooms early, usually is in bloom by the end of April (around the 25th) and blooms for about six weeks, through the first week of June,” the center director said. “So it provides nectar for the ruby-throat hummingbird. Early in the season, there’s not a whole lot of nectar because of the frost and unpredictable weather.”
If you just can’t resist the urge to plant something Terri says you need to cover it — use a sheet, she doesn’t recommend plastic.
“Because too many times people forget that they put plastic over something the night before and go off to work the next morning and come back and find a fried plant under clear plastic or even black plastic,” said Johnson. “So as soon as you see any frost on a plant early in the morning you can spritz it with a water hose before the sunlight gets on it and that can save the plant from some damage.”
Our frost date is May 17 so Terri says usually around that time it’s safe to plant.
“I have seen frost on the 21st of May, so with all these fluctuating temperatures and extremes we don’t know for sure,” said Johnson. “So just still, even mid-May we can still have frost beyond that point. Use your judgment, even though plants are cold hearty they’re still susceptible to frost and freeze damage
