Horticulturist shares perfect plants for warm days and cool evenings

Eager gardeners were out at Bylands Garden Centre in West Kelowna on Wednesday, ready for a new season of planting.

Despite overnight temperatures still dropping below zero on some nights, horticulturist Ken Salvail says there are many plants that are quite happy in the cooler weather.

"To get going you really just want to think about either hardy plants like perennials... what we classify as garden perennials, also shrubs and trees are fine to get going now. As soon as you can dig you can plant."

In the vegetable garden, Salvail recommends cold crops.

"Lettuce and peas... there really is a large selection of plants that you can grow right now. Spinach and radishes, Swiss chard, so for people who want to get out, they can definitely can going fairly soon."

Salvai says it is important to take part in "hardening" the plants.

"If you buy the plants from a greenhouse, or even if you are seeding them yourself and you've got them indoors and they have never experienced the cold before, you have to move them outside for a couple hours at a time...bring them back in, out for a couple hours, bring them back in."

Salvail says that the process should be done over the span of a few weeks. When the temperature lows are hovering around zero, it's a good time to leave the plant outside permanently.

For more information on gardening you can visit Salvail's website here.