KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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Inconsistent temperatures and late-season winter storms are creating challenges for hobby gardeners and nursery professionals with experts urging caution before putting new plants in the ground.
For hobby gardener Jenny Kan, the swings in weather have created real problems in her garden.
"It confuses a lot of my plants. Plants that are supposed to be dormant end up growing sooner than they should," Kan said.
Kan said a visit to Family Tree Nursery offered a welcome escape from the winter chaos outside.
"Once I stepped in here, I just forgot about outside, like outside wasn't even relevant," Kan said.
Seth Catania, nursery manager at Family Tree Nursery, said the recent stretch of warm temperatures has made eager gardeners want to jump ahead of the season — but he's urging restraint.
"Tropicals, annuals, and some of the perennials, those are a little early to get in the group but people are eager to get them in the ground.," Catania said.
He said gardeners can protect delicate plants by covering them with a blanket, bed sheet, or a box. He warned against using plastic coverings, which can create a greenhouse effect and damage new blooms.
"What you're doing is protecting those inner cells of blossoms from possibly freezing or bursting. Then that blossom would turn brown or black and rot away," Catania said.
With temperatures already having dropped below freezing, Catania acknowledged it may be too late to cover plants during the current storm — but noted that in the Midwest, more winter weather could still be on the way.
"It's Kansas, we're gonna get it [weather] so just do your best to work around it," Catania said.
Winter weather has been off and on in the Kansas City metro since the middle of Sunday afternoon. Throughout Sunday night, snow storms will impact the region. On Monday morning, people across the metro will also experience bitterly cold temperatures.
Later in the week, it's expected to warm back up into the 80s.
If you are eager for Spring, Family Tree Nursery in Overland Park, Kansas has some new additions to its facility, including a brand new coffee shop and green house gardens organized by country of origin of the plants it sells.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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