Some plants can tolerate cooler temps of springtime

By Bev Johnson | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, April 19, 2008

Winter just doesn't want to let go this spring, but eventually, we will be able to get to play in the dirt. We need some instant color and there are flowers that we can plant early.

Some plants actually do better in cool weather. After all, we plant peas, lettuce, and radishes as soon as you can get in the garden.

Here are a few flowers that also like the cooler spring soil and temperatures.

Calendula is one flower that isn't planted enough. You can plant the large seed as soon as you can work the soil.

The foot-tall, daisy-like flowers come in yellow, orange, gold and touches of red. They will stop blooming when it gets hot but will revive if they survive the heat and bloom again in the cooler fall.

They also reseed themselves.

Pansies and violas that have been planted for late fall color, will often bloom early in the spring if they have been mulched well.

Dianthus, another name for sweet William and carnations will bloom in early spring. Willy is biannual, that is he blooms every other year, but he does reseed readily.

He also is evergreen. The carnations are a bit slower to bloom but are a bright splash in early spring.

Snapdragons, an annual bedding plant, can be planted in very cool soil and will bloom all summer if deadheaded.

It comes into its own in fall with bright spikes of color for shape contrast with those round mum flowers.

Other bedding plants that like our cool springs are osteospermum, also known as cape daisies.

They get about 12 to 18 inches tall. The colors can be yellow, purple or gold with dark purple centers. They love temps in the 50s to 70s.

A newer bedding plant, twin spur or diascia, is a mound of tiny bright pink flowers all summer. Two varieties to look for are 'Diamonte Coral Rose,' an All American Selection for 2006 or 'Flying Colors Red.” This plant will grow about 12- to 14-inches tall in full sun or part shade.

It's great in a container spilling over the edge and filling up those empty holes. It doesn't need deadheading either, making it perfect for a container that you can't reach easily. If you can find them in the spring, flowering kale or cabbage will even tolerate a light frost.

Even for Minnesota, this is too much snow this late in the season. Daffodils can't pop up too soon. In the meantime, do some planning for when you can get out and play in the dirt.

Bev Johnson is a master gardener for West Otter Tail County.