Annuals Yet?

Thousands of plants will be sold for Mother’s Day and this is a great thing for moms who love flowers and are eager to get started on the gardening season. However, for those of us in Colorado, we aren’t necessarily past the last freeze. Temperatures have climbed this week, from crazy-cold last weekend, but odds are we will get another frost this month. So what does this mean for those of us who are anxious to get gardening this weekend in the warm sunshine?

First of all, this is a good time to plant or transplant perennials. As far as planting annuals, we are all anxious to start planting annuals but the reality is that waiting a few weeks won’t delay the blossoms, since many plants won’t start growing aggressively until the nights stay warm.

If you want to plant warm-season annuals now, you are safer to plant in the warmer parts of your yard, along the sidewalk or next to a wall that provides some solar heating. Otherwise you will be worrying about weather forecasts and nightly lows and rushing out to cover plants at night.

Rather than planting this week, I am going to celebrate Mother’s Day a week late, since my daughter will be home next week. So I am sure I’ll poke around the garden on Sunday, but I will delay my annual purchases for another week or two.

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