Monday, April 11, 2011

Cold Hardy Annuals - Annuals you can plant outside in April!

Our growers are now offering a limited selection of cold-hardy annuals!

Every year we wait patiently as the days and nights get warmer, waiting and waiting for May 15th so we can plant our annuals in the garden and most importantly in our containers. This is the point in the season deemed safe from frost and extreme cold, when we can expose those tender container plants to the elements. But many annuals actually benefit from being planted out earlier and will consistently grow better under the cool, moist conditions of late April and early May. Just as cool weather crops like spinach and broccoli rabe benefit from early spring conditions, so too will ornamental annuals like Calibrachoa, Bacopa, Petunias, Osteospermum and Argyranthemum. For annuals like Diascia and Nemesia the cool weather is the time of their peak performance. They falter in the hot dry conditions of mid-summer, only to rebound and rebloom in the fall.

The only thing that all annuals have in common is that they can’t survive our winter. Beyond that one commonality, annuals are a group of plants as diverse in their origins and requirements as perennials. So, despite everything you’ve heard in the past, there are varieties of annuals who can not only live through a series of light frosts, but will grow bigger and better through out the season because of their cool season head start.

We are incredibly lucky to have forward thinking and innovating growers. And they are doing the extra work needed to harden off early annuals to extend the season for us. Starting April 15th we will have a selection of cool weather annuals! You can plant your containers early and extend the season of enjoyment!