Weekend Gardener: Planting Annuals and Eating Dandelions

This week our Weekend Garden expert, Laura Stone from had some great tips about buying and planting annuals.

“When buying annuals, you want to make sure the plant is a nice dark green color,” said Stone. “There should be no brown patches.”

She also suggests that you purchase annuals that don’t have flowers on them yet. “If you get them without the flowers, you’ll have longer blooms,” said Stone. So unless you need the plant to have flowers on it today for a reason, you’re better off getting a plant with buds, but no flowers.

She also advises that when planting your annual, or any plant, “You want to tickle the roots.” Meaning that when pull the plant out of the planter or pot, “rip the bottom half-inch of the roots off before you put it into the ground.”

And even though you may be tired of looking at your daffodils, it’s not time to cut them back yet, said Stone. “You want to wait until they become brown so that they can save up enough energy for next year’s bloom.”

Finally, Stone had a fun funky fact to share, “Dandelions contain more Vitamin A then carrots and spinach and they taste great,” she said. So after you pull them out of your lawn, wash them off and put them in your salad!