Warm stretch signals early start to planting in North Texas

While the calendar still reads February, it’s winter in name only.  What’s growing in North Texas looks very much like the heart of spring.

At Ruibal’s Plants of Texas in the Dallas Farmers Market, Lexi Grant of Arlington spent part of her Saturday picking out the perfect plant.

“This is going to be a philodendron white wizard,” Grant said. “I feel like this is also recovery because of the harsh cold snap I lost a few plants so this mending that hole, the void.”

Brady Bumgarner with Ruibal’s says most of the plants and flowers now are hearty spring plants which will survive if North Texas sees another sub-freezing cold snap.

“Most people are feeling pretty confident that it’s not going to freeze again but, then again, who knows,” Bumgarner said. “The plants are definitely responding to the weather.”

What appears more likely, even warmer temperatures with February forecasted highs on Monday expected to reach 90 degrees.

The extended stretch of warm temperatures signals a strong beginning to the Dallas Blooms event at the Dallas Arboretum.

“This is really when as a garden and as a community we’re all sort of blooming into the new year,” Dustin Miller with the Dallas Arboretum said. “We’ve been really fortunate this year with sort of picture-perfect weather.”

This weekend marked the first of a scheduled six-week run for what’s described as the largest floral event in the Southwest.

For those looking to plant, Bumgarner says now is a good time to see what is available.

“It’s a good time to get your beds prepped,” Bumgarner said. “Get your mulch, get fresh soil in there.  And just get things ready for spring.”