We are coming out of what should be considered a very mild winter. Many people were able to play golf this winter without traveling south. We had a record cold temperature back in December that caused considerable damage to many evergreens, but since then, we've had days with record high temperatures.
Welcome to Cincinnati, where we are used to weather extremes. The mild weather has been pushing out the buds of many plants. From what I have been seeing, it is looking like the colors of spring will arrive early this year if warming trends continue.
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A wonderful thing about nature is that when we see flowers, we are inspired to plant flowers. In March there are only a few offerings when it comes to blooming plants. Here are two – one perennial, one annual – that will always bring the earliest spring blooms.
Hellebores are great perennial plants. They are commonly known as Lenten Rose. This is because of the timing of their blooms. Many varieties of this plant have already been blooming in our area for weeks. They will bloom in February, especially in mild winters like this one.
Hellebores are tough perennials that grow in shaded areas under trees, and they will also tolerate full sun. Realistically, they do best when you split the difference and plant them in partial shade. They come in a wide range of colors, literally from white to black. In between, there are shades of yellow, pink, red, and purple. They start blooming in February and last well into May. Then you can add varieties of spring and summer flowering perennials to the bed to have blooms all season.
Should you need another reason to add some hellebores to the landscape, they are extremely deer resistant. Just like daffodils and boxwoods, they are poisonous and deer know to stay away from them. If you have been looking for a flowering plant that deer won’t eat, this may be what you need.
Pansies are another great, traditional option for adding color to your beds or containers. When I was growing up “pansy" could be a term a bully called another person when they were perceived as being weak. I’m not sure where the origin of that came from because pansy flowers are pretty tough.
The reason they are sold in March is that they can tolerate frost and freezing temperatures without any protection. Pansies are also sold in the fall for this reason. When planted in the fall, you can get two seasons from them. We have pansies planted in a container on our deck. They were out when we had the deep freeze, yet they are greening up and will be blooming again this spring.
What pansies cannot tolerate is heat. Maybe this is where the weak reference comes from. Since they are not heat tolerant, you cannot plant them with the expectation that they will last through the summer. You should figure on them lasting through May. Then they will need to be replaced with heat-tolerant annuals for the summer.
Hellebores and pansies will be the first blooming plants of the season you will see. However, they are just the warmup for the big show that is coming up. Every week, as we get deeper into spring, the garden centers will have more and more blooming perennials to choose from.
You will also see annuals arriving early. I would advise you to resist the temptation to plant annuals earlier than May 1. Let me remind you again, in our region frost and freezing temperatures are always a possibility through at least the first half of the month of May.
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