Frost & Your Garden

Have your weather radar on and frost blankets handy.

If you can get through the typical first frost or two, sometimes it stays nice enough afterwards to get a couple more weeks of growth from your garden. Be ready to bring containers and hangers inside if you can, be ready to cover what you can't. Certainly, be ready to bring in any tropicals you may have moved out of the house for summer vacation. Sure, it's nice now, but it will only take one cold night to do them in, so be proactive. You don't want to have to bring them in an emergency. You want to be able to have the time to inspect them for bugs, re-pot them outside if necessary and certainly it's a good idea to give them a good cleaning out of doors too.

Frost Tolerant & Sensitive Annuals:

Some annuals do well in near frost or frost conditions. For early and late color in your garden you can try some of these frost tolerant annuals.

Frost Tolerant Annuals:

  • Centaurea
  • Dianthus
  • Dracaena
  • Dusty Miller
  • Kale
  • Pansy
  • Petunia
  • Snapdragon
  • Viola

Of course conversely,

there are annuals that are not conducive to cold conditions and care should be taken when considering when to plant. In Calgary the risk of frost can be as late as the beginning of June. Take note of the weather before planting these frost sensitive annuals.

Frost Sensitive Annuals:

  • Ageratum
  • Amaranthus
  • Begonia
  • Dahlia
  • Gazania
  • Geranium
  • Impatiens
  • Lantana
  • Lavatera
  • Marigold
  • Mesembryanthemum
  • Portulaca
  • Statice
  • Strawflower
  • Verbena Zinnia