Tis’ the season to start planting your spring vegetable garden and flowers; the days are finally beginning to stay on the warmer side making late March/early April the perfect time to get those seeds started.

While many of your spring flowers can be planted in the fall, we’ve listed a few that can be planted now for prime blooming. The cooler weather vegetables are also great to plant as they can withstand the frost that, as we know, will still appear throughout March and April, and even into May. With that, check out these perfect flowers and edible plants to start now!

Spring Flowers:

• Shirley Poppies – these are among the easiest flowers to grow and bonus, they dislike humidity making them a great flower for spring in Colorado.

• Cosmos – vibrant, smaller flowers with double petals; these are great for arrangements, too.

• Amethyst Sweet Pea – their scent alone is enough to win you over. Early sowing is one of the secrets of sweet peas – so getting started on these now is the key!

Garden Vegetables:

• Spinach – an easy-to-grow plant, best grown as soon as your soil is workable in the spring!

• Sugar Snap Peas – sensitive to the extreme heat, spring (or late summer) is perfect for sugar snap peas.

• Broccoli – again, another one that is best to get going before it bolts in the hot sun.

• Radish – fast-growing and do best before temps heat up in the peak of summer!

• Kale – not only is it packed with vitamin K, but it’s among the hardiest of the cold-weather vegetables.

Other hardy vegetables that tolerate hard frosts (temperatures below 28 degrees F for a few hours or more):
• Brussel Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Collards
• English peas
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Mustard greens
• Parsley
• Turnip

Do you regularly plant a garden? What are your favorite things to grow? You can find everything you need at Ace Hardware of Fort Collins, including seeds, heat mats, small grow kits, soil amenities and all your other needs to get you started on your garden projects.