Plants are blooming early this year. Here's how to protect yours
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Plants are blooming early throughout Colorado in response to an unusually warm winter. Springtime temperatures coax plants out of dormancy and leave them vulnerable to unexpected freezes. These budding plants also face unfavorable drought conditions following an especially dry season.
But Mike Spencer, co-owner of Spencer’s Produce, Lawn & Garden Centers in Colorado Springs, has some solutions to protect your plants during this winter’s unusual weather.
“We can't panic about all of it,” Spencer said. “Gardening … it’s a living thing and you’re going to have some die, some thrive.”
This winter has been one of the warmest on record in Colorado. The average temperature for Colorado Springs was six degrees above average, surpassing the previously warmest winter on record in 1933-34, according to the National Weather Service.
Gardeners across the country have seen early spring blooms, according to the National Phenology Network. Despite a cold eastern winter, parts of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi saw blooms as early as January, which then stalled when colder temperatures returned.
Spencer inherited a green thumb from his father, who owned the garden center before him. At seven years old, he used to stand on wooden apple boxes to man the cash register. Here’s how Spencer recommends protecting your unsuspecting plants following a warm, dry winter.
Get outside and do some early spring watering
Trees in early bloom need water.
“When we water, we've got to soak,” Spencer said.
You want the water to get down four inches into the soil for grasses and six to eight inches for trees and shrubs, he said, but you can’t expect to do it all at once because the water will just run off. Spencer recommends letting the grass and trees soak and re-watering multiple times a day.
When watering a tree, don’t focus the hose at the base of the trunk. Ensure that the water is on the “drip line” of the tree, which is where the canopy ends. It’s especially important to water younger trees that are more vulnerable to drastic weather changes.
Fertilizing trees is important in drought years
Fertilizing early is a good practice in warmer winter conditions, Spencer said. The fertilizer will take about 30 days to get to the roots of trees, so fertilizing plants now is a good idea, he said. Be sure to water after fertilizing.
“This coming year, because of the drought, use a good balanced fertilizer,” he said.
Spencer recommends fertilizers with a mixture of nitrogen, phosphorus and pot ash at a ratio of 11:15:11 or 5:10:5, respectively.
Protect trees against insects
Drought conditions bring insects, so insecticide will be your friend, Spencer said.
“In a drought year when we're going to see a lot of the pine borer and blood worms and stuff like that, as soon as that starts eating [the plant], it's going to kill it,” Spencer said.
Plants will be weaker because they haven’t had enough moisture, and insects target weaker plants. Insect prevention is key to giving those plants a chance.
“You have a chance of saving those larger, beautiful evergreens that have been in your yard for 70 years. And I think that's important,” he said.
Choose the right flowers and crops for volatile weather
The balmy weather does not mean gardeners should plant flowers or crops that are more suitable for the warmth, Spencer said. If gardeners want to get ahead of planting, they should choose freeze-tolerant crops and plants.
Planting tomato seedlings? Probably not the best idea, he said. Ground crops, like potatoes, radishes and lettuce, can start being planted now.
“Tomatoes, peppers, absolutely not,” Spencer said.
Petunias, alyssum and pansies are some of the freeze-tolerant flowers he recommends.
If a freeze does come, you might want to give your flowers and crops a blanket (literally). But proceed with caution
If the temperature drops to 32 degrees, that won’t necessarily kill your plants. Prolonged freezes, over the course of multiple days and colder than 27 degrees, are cause for concern, Spencer said.
Using wooden stakes and bed sheets, you can cover your plants to prevent them from freezing. However, if the temperature shoots back up, the sheets must be removed immediately. Otherwise, the plants will suffocate and die.
For more information, Spencer recommends visiting your local gardening center.
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