The weather this month has been rather erratic — Monday was cold and rainy but the past couple of days have been lovely, the sun is shining and the sky clear. When the weather is nice like

today, we are eager to get the flowers in our containers. Spring Planting Service for container gardens begins on May 13th this year (weather permitting). I still have space on the calendar. If you’re not scheduled already, email me or call me at (970) 988-3808 to get on the schedule!

You may have noticed some plants are available at the grocery stores, big box stores and at the nurseries. You may have also noticed that the selection of annual plants is very limited; for example, there are very few petunias available. In the greenhouse business, growing plants is a calculated science mixed with art. Plant data is collected by the growers so that we know that it takes 8-10 weeks to grow marigolds from seed to flowering; whereas, Geraniums can take up to 25 weeks. Counting backwards, the greenhouse manager determines when the flowers should be ready for sale and starts the seeds accordingly. Although there is some variation, the plants are not ready early – they’ll be ready to go in mid-May, which is just around the corner. Did you know it is illegal to sell a potted plant if the roots don’t reach the bottom of the container? This is to protect the consumer from being conned into buying “plants” that don’t actually have roots.

Don’t forget, spring weather in Colorado is very fickle! A couple of years ago we got a full 12″ of snow on May 18th! Therefore, although it can be very hard, we need to be patient for a couple more weeks before setting out the tropical annual flowers we love in our containers.