One consideration has so far kept Judy Runzer from taking advantage of mild February weather and planting some primulas.
That would be the rapacious appetites of ungulates, which would like nothing better than to start noshing on homeowners‘ early-season gardens.
“I see deer out and about, and I think, ‘Oh, boy, do I want to start fighting with them already?,‘” Runzer, of the Kelowna Garden Club, said with a laugh on Wednesday.
“But with the weather so beautifully warm and sunny, it makes you anxious to get out there and do some gardening. So I probably will put some primulas out in the next couple days.”
Wednesday‘s high of 10 C was more than double the usual temperature for mid-February. It was the first time since Nov. 20 that temperatures have bounced back into double digits.
Snowfall accumulation since November has been less than half the usual 90 centimetres, which has left the soil dry.
“If people have rose bushes, shrubs and trees they value, they should get out now and do some watering,” Runzer says.
Along with primulas, garden centres have set out other plants, such as pansies, which are hardy down to temperatures of about -6 C.
“People are chomping at the bit to get gardening,” said Penny Fowler of Dogwood Nursery and Landscaping in West Kelowna, where the early-season garden plants have come out about two weeks ahead of schedule.
There‘s no money-back-guarantee for plants put into flower boxes and gardens now at most garden centres, but Maria Byland of Byland‘s Garden Centre says those planted near the house, where temperatures are usually a few degrees warmer, should be OK.
“And they are fairly inexpensive plants,” Byland said. “It‘s just fun to plant flowers when the Winter Olympics are on.” Top of Page
