While it’s not uncommon in Kansas City to see spring weather way before the official onset of spring, it is common to see trees, shrubs, and flowers start to blossom way before they are no longer at risk of a late frost.
President of the Missouri Native Plant Society Hilary Haley says if you look around, you can see greenery already starting to wake up.
“Some trees are already starting to bud out a little bit," she says, "and these warmer temperatures are only going to encourage that more.”
Kansas City broke an 83-year record when it reached 76 degrees on Monday. The area hadn’t seen a day so warm in late February since 1943. Higher-than-average temperatures are expected to continue into next week, and experts say gardeners often think extended warm periods mean it’s OK to plant. But they warn people to be cautious of putting just anything in the ground too soon.
Haley has been in the conservation field for about 20 years, specifically focusing on prairie restoration and bee identification. She says the spring-like days entice people to start putting out the plants they’ve been nurturing in a greenhouse or under a grow light, or sowing seeds in the ground. Unfortunately, plants roll with the weather, Haley says, and gardeners are gambling with nature to put plants or seeds out before there is less risk of a hard freeze.
“With this warm winter, you get excited, and you want to start going with your planting,” she says. “But usually in the last several years, at least, we've had a late frost occur, and that can really affect plants negatively.”
A hard freeze, or in some cases even a light frost, can stunt the growth or kill certain plants. Vegetable plants such as tomatoes, peppers and green beans won't do well. Some perennials and annuals might survive a brief cold snap with discoloration or browning of the leaves, but it's best to wait, say experts.
Among annuals, pansies are the only bursts of color that can be counted on to survive a drop in temperature. They don't mind a prolonged period of cold weather. Garden centers are stocking them now.
"Oh yes, people are snapping them up," said Matt Archer, President of Soil Service Garden Center in Kansas City, Missouri. He says other annuals will be coming in from wholesalers soon and he anticipates a buying frenzy with this persistent warm weather. But he warns people not to start planting yet, unless you're prepared to cover plants with frost blankets when temperatures go down.
"Some annuals are very cold sensitive. It doesn't even have to be a frost or a freeze," Archer says. "Some of the annuals like Sweet Potato Vine, Coleus, and Basil are plants people always want to rush outside. Those are the ones you really want to wait to put in the ground until late April, even early May."
There are cold weather vegetables, however. Greens like lettuce, spinach kale and cabbage can be planted in late February. They germinate in the cold and even like a blanket of snow.
Researchers at the University of Illinois, suggest that people give their indoor seed pods a 4–6-week window after the last frost before putting them permanently outside. Many seed packets will also have planting instructions on the back.
If you do choose to sow seeds during this spell of warm days, knowing there may be a later frost, Haley suggests focusing on native species known in the Missouri area. It’s called “frost seeding” or “winter sowing.” Some of the hardy native wildflowers include Milkweed, Coneflowers, Asters, Prairie Blazing Star, Black-Eyed Susan, or Foxglove Beardtongue. Witch Hazel, she says, is another possibility,
Bees are also at risk
But Haley says not only is this unseasonably warm weather a risk to plants, it’s also a risk to the insects, particularly bees, that pollinate them. Haley keeps beehives. She’s already seeing the emergence of native bee species, even though it is too early for them.
“So, the honeybees right now are active with this warm weather,” Haley says. “They come out, they start looking for food, and they're not going to be finding a whole lot right now.”
Native bee species may not produce honey, but they are vital to the ecosystem, she says, and it’s a problem if they can’t find fully blooming flowers on which to feed.
“Day to day, people aren't going to notice if the bees are to come out early, and then we get a hard frost," Haley says. "That could be really hard on them.”
Widespread warmth
It wasn’t just Kansas City that broke temperature records on Monday. According to the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Kirksville and St. Joseph also broke decades-old records for late winter. Meteorologist Chris Bowman says we won’t see typical February weather for a while.
“For the first part of next week, like back (we go) into the 60s, to even mid- 60s,” said Bowman, “continuing well above normal temperatures for this time of year.”
Bowman says normal would be in the 40s. What we’re seeing, he says, is caused by something called “upper-level ridging.”
“You have these ridges and troughs that set up kind of a pattern (of waves of air) that move across the Northern Hemisphere,” said Bowman. “We're in the longer wave ridge portion that's allowing for temperatures to get, you know, above normal.”
So, get out and enjoy the weather. Put those hardy plants in your containers or beds. But keep in mind that these warm days are a tease and only certain things will stand the likely harsh weather we will see before our true spring has sprung.
