The Sunnier Side of Tax Day

Dear Fearless Homeowner,

When you feel spring in the air do you begin to dream about what new flower varieties you’re going to experiment with this year?

For me, landscaping is one of the more exciting parts of owning a home. I love looking at the blank canvas and deciding where a redbud could be added, which places are sunny enough for irises, and where I could add another bed of daises. You can never have enough daises as far as I’m concerned. Our current house has a couple acres of land, and I was excited to find a good online resource for buying wildflower daisy seeds by the pound this year!

I’m a fourth generation Oklahoma farmer/gardener, and the itch to plant in the spring is in my blood. With that said, you’d think some gardening wisdom would have also been passed down to me. Somehow, I often struggle to handle the challenging weather Oklahoma gives it’s gardeners.

I remember the first year I was eagerly awaiting spring planting. I was in graduate school in Norman and had upgraded from the typical small college apartment to a larger duplex. The highlight of the new housing arrangement as far as I was concerned was the front porch, which had endless potential for container gardening!  I had grown up wandering through the rows of my grandfather’s garden, and I was looking forward to finally flexing my own green thumb!

As I carefully watched the weather for a trend of sunny days, I was thrilled to see how nice it was in Oklahoma for the beginning of March. I was sure the time had come to plant, and I quickly ran out to the store to buy my first round of flowers. I am now convinced stores only put out spring flowers early to tempt us to make the novice mistake I made that year by planting way too early. 

As I was cheerfully playing in the dirt and planting away on the front porch, an older gentleman  strode past me on the street. He made a comment about admiring my optimism. I didn’t entirely get it at the time, but I thanked him nonetheless. A week later, in typical Oklahoma fashion, a hard freeze struck the state. In all fairness, it didn’t kill ALL of my newly planted flowers. The pansies I had painstakingly picked out remained alive, but the rest of the tender annuals shriveled up and died.

So with weather the way it is in Oklahoma, when do you decide it’s safe to put out new flowers? Well, according to local gardening expert, Leigh Howell Love, the general rule of thumb in Oklahoma is Tax Day, April 15th. So when you’re done tallying up the totals for Uncle Sam, reward yourself with a trip to the garden store! Rest assured your flowers will thank you for not putting them out too early in this crazy Oklahoma weather. And with the tax deadline being pushed back to the 18th this year, you could spend all day Friday happily gardening. I think I will!

~Kristin

For more Oklahoma gardening resources, check out our tip sheet here.

If you’d rather just look at your pretty flowers instead of planting them yourself, be sure to check out Leigh’s landscaping company! She helps many residents in north OKC and Edmond design and maintain their gorgeous gardens.