April happens fast here at the greenhouses. We have a huge selection of spring and summer annuals available and ready to plant outside. Each week we will continue to have more and more plants available. The hanging baskets are also coming along nicely, and this year we have varieties of mixed baskets able to tolerate the frost.
Many customers are often concerned about what can actually be planted outside and what they should wait on to plant until the threat of frost has past. Some frost hardy annuals that do well here in the Rogue Valley are petunias, snapdragons, annual dianthus, alyssum, and lobelia, just to name a few. All of these plants, if properly hardened off (acclimatized), do very well here. Part of our growing practices is to make sure we’ve hardened off the frost hardy plants for the customers prior to making them available for sale. This enables you to purchase them knowing they’re ready to go outside. Plants like marigolds, begonias, coleus, impatiens, and many more are very tender to cold, and unless your flower garden is well protected in a warm location, we recommend waiting to plant until the threat of frost has passed.
It can be very overwhelming thinking about what can be planted now and what can’t. It’s almost impossible to remember the needs of every plant. Here at the greenhouses we like to help simplify it for you so you don’t have to remember. As a rule of thumb we like to tell our customers that anything they see in the outside shopping area of the greenhouse is frost hardy and ready to plant outside, whereas anything they see inside the greenhouses may be frost sensitive. There are actually a few items like Sweet Potato Vine and Coleus that are more than just frost sensitive, but really don’t like nightly lows below 40. If possible you’ll want to keep them protected until the nights get warmer. Just remember to ask a sales associate for advice if you’re unsure. There are many of us here with years of gardening experience to help you out.
