Planting Resources

Your guide on when to plant just about anything

A bird’s eye view for planting your landscape beds and containers that will take you through the whole year. This calendar can help you plan when to plant up and change out your containers, when to schedule landscaping, split and transplant your favorite perennials or plant your spring- and summer-blooming bulbs.

Check the tags on your plants or talk to someone in the garden center to pair this information with bloom times for a yard and garden that has year-round visual interest. You can do this by staggering your bloom times, mixing in evergreens or plants with interesting foliage, even deciduous trees and shrubs that have almost architectural or colored branches for winter interest.

Timing

For many trees, shrubs and flowers, you can plant any time the soil is workable, even during the warmest summer months as long as you are able to pay close attention to the moisture needs of your plants. It’s always best to skip the hottest summer months when it comes to splitting and transplanting your plants, though.

Oftentimes, planting is dictated by the final frost date of the season, an average you can find here and here.

Planting

When you’re ready to plant, start here for a full guide on planting, watering, fertilizing and when required, pruning. For helpful hints on planting up your containers start here. Or get all the results without the work with pre-planted Grab & Go spring porch pots or a Grab & Go Membership, for great containers all year without even trying.

So let’s get to the guide, a visual that will help you plan, plant and enjoy your yard and garden even more.

planting-key

 

 

B&B DECIDUOUS TREES & SHRUBS »
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

B&B SLOW-ROOTING TREES »
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

B&B NARROW-LEAVED EVERGREENS »
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

CONTAINER TREES & SHRUBS »
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

TRANSPLANTED TREES & SHRUBS »
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

COOL-WEATHER ANNUALS
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

ANNUALS
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC (after all danger of frost has passed)

HEAT-TOLERANT ANNUALS
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC  (after all danger of frost has passed)

VEGGIES (spring crop)*
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC
* for more detailed information by vegetable, visit Purdue Agriculture.

VEGGIES (fall crop)
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC
* for more detailed information by vegetable, visit Purdue Agriculture.

HERBS (outside) 
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC (after all danger of frost has passed)

HERBS (inside)
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

HARDY BULBS
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC

TENDER BULBS
JAN / FEB / MAR / APR / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC (after all danger of frost has passed)

* ’B&B’ is ball and burlap

 

Deciduous trees and shrubs

Trees and shrubs that lose their foliage each fall and winter.

B&B slow-rooting trees

Some slow-to-root trees that should be planted in spring: 

Red Maple
Birches
Nootka False Cypress
Flowering Dogwood
Hawthorns
Goldenrain Tree
Tulip Tree
Magnolias
Black Gum
Poplars
Stone Fruits (peach, cherry, etc.)
Callery Pear
White Oak
Scarlet Oak
Bur Oak
Willow Oak
English Oak
Red Oak
Willows
Silver Linden
Japanese Zelkova

B&B narrow-leaved evergreens

Plants that have needles such as:

Juniper
Pine
Cedar
Spruce
Taxus
Yew

Container trees & shrubs

Trees and shrubs grown and sold in containers.

Cool-weather annuals

Flowers that actually thrive on the cool weather of an early spring and late fall, even tolerating frost: 

Pansies
Violas
Sweet peas
Dianthus
Bachelor’s buttons
Snapdragons
Calendula
Marigolds

Annuals

Plants that have one growing season.

Heat-tolerant annuals

Plants that thrive in the heat and sunlight of a single summer. For more on our Top 5 heat-tolerant annuals, start here.

Veggies (spring and fall crops)

The full range of garden-grown fruits and vegetables, from asparagus to watermelon.

Herbs (indoor and outdoor)

The full range of garden-grown culinary and medicinal herbs, from basil to thyme.

For more on how to grow these easy herbs, start here . And for a list of healing herbs and how to use them, start here.

Hardy Bulbs

Hardy bulbs survive winters in the ground and may be left in place all year. Most should be planted in early fall.

These include:

Armenian Grape Hyacinth
Crocus
Crown Imperial
Daffodil
Cutch Hyacinth
Giant Onion
Hardy Amaryllis
Lily
Netted Iris
Siberian Squill
Snowdrop
Star of Bethlehem
Summer Snowflake
Tulip

Tender Bulbs

Tender bulbs must be lifted after the growing season, stored indoors and replanted the following year. They should not be planted outdoors until after all danger of frost is past in spring. These include:

Dahlia
Gladiolus
Tiger Flower
Tuberous Begonia