MONROE - The long, warm days of late spring seem to have arrived, but master gardeners in Green County are taking different approaches to planting.
"Plant according to the weather," said Betty Grotophorst, Belleville, "regardless of the calendar."
Grotophorst follows her observations of nature. If the trees are in bud, like they already are this March, "put your hands in the ground" and feel for the warmth, she said. "That's what you do."
But Cheryl Rezabek, Brooklyn, keeps an eye on the calendar and plants according to the last frost date, around May 5 for Green County.
"There's a potential for frost before that (date)," she said. "If you put plants in now, they're at risk." Rezabek said a frost will kill or slow the growth of a plant, and the gardener will have lost all the time he thought he gained by starting early.
"People are already asking for plants to set out," agreed Melissa Briggs, owner of The Garden Spot in Monroe, "but it's too soon."
Mike Davis, New Glarus, president of the South Central Wisconsin Master Gardener Association, uses a humorous approach to unpredictable weather. "Plant early, plant often," he said.
With perennials already up and growing hardily, local members of the Master Gardener Association are taking steps early to prepare for their annual plant sale, set for May 5, that famous last frost date.
Lynn Lokken, treasurer, is splitting some of her plants now, before they become too bushy to handle, and repotting them for the sale. And she's looking for volunteers to help clean up the gardens around Pleasant View Nursing Home, a job usually reserved for the sale event day.
"If we wait, they'll be too overgrown," she said.
Cleaning out dead plants seems to be a gardening activity acceptable to all the masters this March. Hydrangeas do not need to be cut back, but just tipped, some advised.
Joyce Anderson, Monroe, reported late last week that spinach, which she planted in November, is about 3 to 4 inches high already. And her cherry trees, which bloomed May 6 last year, bloomed March 21 this year - six weeks early.
When gardeners need to compare their garden climates with the climate where a plant is known to grow well, they turn to the USDA Hardiness Zone Map. The map divides North America into 11 separate zones. Each zone is about 10 degrees different than the adjacent zones. In some versions of the map, each zone is further divided into "a" and "b" regions.
Davis said that map has been updated recently, and Green County has changed from a 4b zone to a 5a zone.
"It's an indication that things are changing," Davis said, "and gardeners are recognizing that."
"Plant according to the weather," said Betty Grotophorst, Belleville, "regardless of the calendar."
Grotophorst follows her observations of nature. If the trees are in bud, like they already are this March, "put your hands in the ground" and feel for the warmth, she said. "That's what you do."
But Cheryl Rezabek, Brooklyn, keeps an eye on the calendar and plants according to the last frost date, around May 5 for Green County.
"There's a potential for frost before that (date)," she said. "If you put plants in now, they're at risk." Rezabek said a frost will kill or slow the growth of a plant, and the gardener will have lost all the time he thought he gained by starting early.
"People are already asking for plants to set out," agreed Melissa Briggs, owner of The Garden Spot in Monroe, "but it's too soon."
Mike Davis, New Glarus, president of the South Central Wisconsin Master Gardener Association, uses a humorous approach to unpredictable weather. "Plant early, plant often," he said.
With perennials already up and growing hardily, local members of the Master Gardener Association are taking steps early to prepare for their annual plant sale, set for May 5, that famous last frost date.
Lynn Lokken, treasurer, is splitting some of her plants now, before they become too bushy to handle, and repotting them for the sale. And she's looking for volunteers to help clean up the gardens around Pleasant View Nursing Home, a job usually reserved for the sale event day.
"If we wait, they'll be too overgrown," she said.
Cleaning out dead plants seems to be a gardening activity acceptable to all the masters this March. Hydrangeas do not need to be cut back, but just tipped, some advised.
Joyce Anderson, Monroe, reported late last week that spinach, which she planted in November, is about 3 to 4 inches high already. And her cherry trees, which bloomed May 6 last year, bloomed March 21 this year - six weeks early.
When gardeners need to compare their garden climates with the climate where a plant is known to grow well, they turn to the USDA Hardiness Zone Map. The map divides North America into 11 separate zones. Each zone is about 10 degrees different than the adjacent zones. In some versions of the map, each zone is further divided into "a" and "b" regions.
Davis said that map has been updated recently, and Green County has changed from a 4b zone to a 5a zone.
"It's an indication that things are changing," Davis said, "and gardeners are recognizing that."