Nope, It’s Still Not Safe To Plant Your Flowers In Lawton
This is the time each year that people around Lawton usually hop out into their flower beds and start planting pops of color all around their property, but it's (probably) still too early yet.
During an average year, much of Southwest Oklahoma is usually plant-safe weather-wise by the third week of April. After all, we're used to seeing 90s during the fourth month, but 2022 has been an exceptionally cold year so far.
If you remember hosting the family Christmas in shorts and t-shirts, winter didn't arrive in Lawton until New Year's Day. The first of the big cold fronts rolled the cold winter in as we crossed midnight about five weeks later than usual, and it lingered on forever.
How many winter storms with measurable ice and snow did we have this winter? Five? Six? While none of us can depend entirely on memory, it sure seemed like the snow and ice came every two weeks like clockwork in January, February, and parts of March. We've even experienced freezing conditions in April so far, and with cool temps still aplenty, there's still a definite chance we could get a very late frost this year. As for records, May 3rd is the latest recorded freeze down this way.
"Surely we won't have another frost, have you seen the forecast?"
If you haven't learned you can't trust a forecast yet, you might be in for a surprise. Nobody knows what's going on with the weather. It's been too weird of a year with the lingering cold and super-active winter weather season... but odds are we'll all be safe to plant by Mothers Day.
"What was all that about buying on-sale plants?"
There's a reason plants go on sale at the beginning of spring, and it's nothing you'd want to invest in. At a time when prices should and regularly are their highest, stores will generally discount the plants that have been damaged by the weather so far. The prices won't likely turn a profit, but it'll keep a big box store from taking a loss having to throw them away.
"But there's a warranty on those plants..."
Yep, most still offer the grow guarantee... and when your weather-stunted sales plants die, you'll return them for fresh new ones and the business will pass that financial loss on down to the producers, likely any number of small family farms across America.
Instead of taking a risk that could hurt your fellow man in protecting the corporate giants, wait an extra week before you hop into your soil. Plus, it's hard enough work... don't you want to do it just once?