Gardening Season Starts Late In Colorado Springs

The birds are chirping, the sun is warm, and trees are leafing out and blossoming, and that means it is time to plant flowers, right? Wrong! At least not here, not quite yet. Despite the teasing of early spring, we still get some frost in late April here (even early May is not immune).
After 19 years, you’d think I’d know better, but the garden center at Home Depot looked so inviting, I broke down and bought a few annuals to add some color to the front of our house last week. They actually survived the wet sloppy snow we had on Friday, but I think tonight’s forecast frost is going to do them in. You can’t really depend on the weather forecast, because the ‘chance of some snow showers mixed with rain’ we had on Friday was 18 inches in the northern part of the county! Here in town it wasn’t so much, and all melted off before dinner, but a few degrees here and there can really make a difference. The serious gardeners take precautions such as covering plants, applying some warmer water, using a small greenhouse for a while, etc. The rookies like me? We just whine a little and plant some more later!