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C O N T E N T S Solar systems that you can tackle and reduce energy costs Home improvements designed to increase your home's value Plants that are hard to kill make gardening easier A publication of the Waukesha Freeman and Oconomowoc Enterprise • MAY 2018 By Catherine Jozwik Special to Waukesha County Home The cold April temperatures and snowfalls have some garden- ers concerned about how their vegetables and flowers will thrive this growing season. Although snow and ice can dam- age ornamentals and other plants, by taking several precautions, people can still have a successful growing season, said area nursery owners and horticulturalists. Plant Land, 6204 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, has been serving area gardeners since 1968. Siblings and owners Karen Matt and Mark Jorgenson, who bought the business from their parents in the 1990s, grow all of their own plants, unlike other nurseries, whose supply comes from various greenhouses. To prepare for the April snow, annual flowers petunias and pan- sies were covered with frost blan- kets. However, about four dozen petunias were lost, Matt said. 'Little troupers' All of the pansies survived. "The pansies made it through. They're little troupers," she said. The cold has caused a delay in the nursery's planting season. "It's putting us a good week behind," Matt said. Amanda Piala, who owns Piala's Nursery & Garden Shop in Wauke- sha with her husband Quinn, said, "We got snow." Piala noted that planting pota- toes, a stem vegetable, was also pushed back. Because many vegetables at area nurseries were under green- house cover, they were protected from the harsh weather, but some outdoor bulbs such as tulips and daffodils, which normally bloom at this time of year, were dam- aged. Ann Wied, consumer horticul- ture educator for the University of Wisconsin Extension-Waukesha, said this growing season is still a normal one. Gardeners have not been planting much yet due to the recent weather. "It depends on how cool the next two or three weeks are. It's kind of a wait-and-see type deal," she said last week. Wied said a cold snap this time of year is not uncommon, and many vegetables, including spinach, radishes and peas, can tolerate frost. Piala added that other cold- weather plants, such as broccoli, cabbage and kale, can be planted now. Soil temps matter However, in order for "hot weather" plants such as eggplant and tomatoes to flourish, people need to be patient and wait not only A hardy test for some plants, but don't call them tardy just yet Photo courtesy of Karen Matt See WEATHERING SPRING/Page 2 Lettuce, a cold-weather plant, can thrive even in chilly temper- atures, as seen by these plants at Plant Land in South Milwaukee. How to tell what weathered the cold and snow

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