What To Plant In February

This month is still kind of quiet when it comes to starting from seed, but we it starting to feel a bit closer to gardening season being just around the corner.

Unless specifically mentioned, these timings work all across Canada, in most all of the gardening zones.

White snapdragons, alyssum, and geraniums in the potager food garden. — *I love white flowers in the garden. These white snapdragons with white alyssum and geraniums in the background.*

Flowers

I will be adding all sorts of flowers that I think folks might be interested in starting, from perennials and biennials for your garden beds, to annuals for your pots, planters, and hanging baskets.

Delphiniums (perennial)
Dianthus (perennial)
Digitalis (Foxgloves) (biennnial)
Gaillardia (perennial)
Impatiens
Lisianthus
Pansies
Petunias
Snapdragons
Stocks
Verbena
Violas
Yarrow (perennial)

If you are on the west coast, you can direct sow sweet peas into your garden this month. Wait for a dry, sunny day, pop in your seeds. No need to soak or prestart. They will come up when the day length and heat is just right.

In our zone 3 prairie gardens, we can direct sow them in late March or early April, depending on the year.

Deep blue delphiniums growing with white, fluffy goatsbeard.

Herbs

Agastache/Hyssop
Lavender
Parsley
Rosemary
Sage

Hyssop in the garden, with a bee enjoying the flowers. — *A bee on my Hyssop. Bees love purple plants, especially herbs.*

Hot Banana Peppers growing in a 3 gallon pot in the greenhouse. — *Happy Hot Banana Peppers growing in pots, inside the greenhouse.*

Vegetables

Artichokes
Celery
Eggplants
Leeks
Luffas
Peppers – especially the hot ones!
Onions
Shallots
Strawberries

Winter sown broad beans flowering in May. — *Broad beans flowering at the end of May.*

West coast – zones 6, 7, 8 – Broad beans can be direct sown into the garden.

How to take a geranium cutting. — *Take a cutting that is ideally at least 4 inches long. Remove all the side shoots.*

Take Cuttings

Cuttings can be taken from your favourite flowers and herbs. Take a good sized cutting (ideally at least 4 inches long). Remove all but a leaf or two at the very top of the cutting. Make sure to not leave a long tail at the bottom of your cutting. It should be cut at a 45 degree angle, just below the lowest leaf node.

Place your cutting in a glass of water to grow roots. Or, use a rooting hormone and pop them right into a small pot (solo cup). Make sure that you plant the cutting deep so that just the top leaves are above the soil’s surface.

Basil
Rosemary
Sage
Sweet Bay

Fuchsias
Geraniums
Ivies

Rooting Hormone #1 is for softwood stems (basil, geraniums, fucshias, etc), Rooting Hormone #2, is for semi hardwood cuttings (woody houseplants, sweet bay, shrubs, flowers), and Rooting Hormone #3 is for woody stems, like woody shrubs, but can also be used on flowers and herbs).

If I were only buying one, as they are pricey, I would get either #1 or #2 and use it on everything (knowing that it will not work on really hard, woody stems).