Early spring here in south east Michigan can be summer-like one day and swing back to winter the next. We've been experiencing a beautifully warm spring this year. With warm sunny days inspiring us to get out and start planting. However, we need to keep in mind that our night-time temperatures can still dip below 40 degrees and even frost or freeze. Many of the plants appearing in garden center greenhouses now are not ready to spend the night outside yet. It's OK to plant them in containers that can be brought indoors for protection at night. Planting them in the ground now will only shock and set them back, or even kill them. When temperatures at night even off at around 50 degrees and the soil temperature has warmed is the best time for greenhouse annuals and tender perennials to be planted out. Usually the second week, or so, in May.
To bring early Spring color into our gardens and outside containers there are more Cold Tolerant plants to use. These plants will get you off to the right start when gardening in April. Many of them will go on right through the summer, giving you a much longer growing season. So as you're getting your gardens ready for a new year come, take a look at some of our recommended cool weather plants for spring blooms in your yard.
