In the Mountain Nursery business the season starts when it starts: when the snow melts and we’ve had a reasonable period of time to recover from the last hard frost or heavy snow (usually early May to mid-May). The busy season goes until the 4th of July when the rush to get things planted wanes and we all want to get out and enjoy this beautiful place we live in.
The lights are still on and we have a whole tribe of very devoted and kind clients and friends. Thank you to all of you who gave up a day on the lake to plant a few perennials, you’ll be happy you did when they bloom next spring. The water in the west slope rivers is still cold! Not too much hail (thank you) but we were ready with our frost protecting floating row cover – it works great for hail protection, letting the water through but absorbing the shock of the ice. We cover our thimbleberries and dogwoods especially.
August is sunflowers, black-eyed susans, Siberian catmint, Russian sage, and hollyhock… Big-ol’ plants with rich colors. Mid-season is August 1st. Check-out the NOAA Freeze Frost Maps. Freeze Frost Probabilities info. Our frost free period (less than 10% chance of 32°F or less) is July 15-August 15. So we still have September, October and sometimes, part-of, November to get plants in the ground to rage next spring.
