Plant Installation

Flower Planting

When to plant depends on the weather each year.

Spring Planting:

Spring is such a roller coaster season with cold and warm spells alternating unpredictably. It's hard to predict just the right time to purchase plants for spring planting.

Here is some information that may help:

Annuals vs. Perennials:

You have plenty of time:

You have an extended window of time, there is no critical "plant by" day to worry about in the spring, although planting should be finished by late spring/early summer and as a general rule earlier is better. We tend to want to plant as early as possible, and we see those colorful flowers for sale and can't resist getting started. If you transplant to early, you may lose your flowers to frost or a freeze, so be cautious. Some years, planting time runs earlier and some years later, it depends on the weather.

Fall Planting:

The best time to plant fall bulbs is usually when it's still comfortable enough to work outside and the ground isn't frozen, but there's no liklehood that temperatures will turn warm again. That balancing act can be tricky, especially when mother nature turns her whimsical eye on your planting zone.

Here are a couple of helpful tips:

Sprng flowers need winter chills:

You've probably heard the old saying"April showers bring May flowers". What also brings May florwers such as tulips is a long period of cold weather. Most spring flowering bulbs need several weeks of near-freezing or below-freezing temperatures in order to bloom. That's why spring bulbs must either be chilled in the refrigerator if forcing them to bloom indoors in pots or planted during the fall to ensure they receive natural chilling over the winter.

Although it's  more pleasant to garden during warm fall days, planting bulbs to soon may trick the bulbs into sprouting in the fall rather than waiting for springtime. Garden centers and retail stores stock bulbs many weeks before they should be planted in the ground. While it's fine to pick up packages of bulbs during the last half of summer, and indeed may be deisrable to obtain the best selection, wait to plant them until cooler days arrive. Store them in a cool, dark place such as a garage, shed, or basement until you're ready to plant them.

 

Plant near frost date:

Most bulb packages are rather vague about when you should plant bulbs, and there's a good reason for that. There's really no hard and fast day by which you should plant them. The best time to plant fall bulbs varies according to the weather conditions, your planting zone, and your availibility.

One easy way to know when to plant fall bulbs is to look up the frost date for your planting zone and schedule time to plant them near that date. The frost date is the average first frost date for your area, and it is usually a good indicator of the time of year when temperatures dip near freezing. This is usually a reliable indicator that fall has truly arrived.

 

Plants installed by Platt Landscaping carry a one year guarantee...