Snap Out of It!
If you walk into a Phoenix nursery right now, there is an abundance of snapdragons, petunias, pansies, marigolds and geraniums for sale.
I do plant a few of all of them, this time of year, for their fun and fancy color. I prefer to wait and use the pansies and petunias for my winter garden as they are joyfully colorful and easy to grow in colder months. To plant a bunch of pansies and petunias in springtime would mean I have to replace them by June, as they will definitely dry up and get leggy.
Snapdragons, however, just call out SPRING to me so I must heed that call. They are probably my favorite seasonal flower. I can plant after the threat of frost so it depends year to year, but generally planting season for these guys begins late February. Once planted, it’s a colorful, welcoming, upright “HELLO” whenever I walk into the yard. They shout EASTER, which to me, is a sense of renewal and freshness. Like, “hey, snap out of it, winter’s over, let’s start again!”
So I always plant snapdragons, bring them up to a foot and a half tall, and then I cut them!
Why? Because they make the best Easter floral arrangements!
Snaps are easy to grow in the Phoenix valley. To plant healthy, pretty snaps, dig a hole for each plant large enough to accommodate the root ball. They are fine with Phoenix soil, but you could throw some fresh, dark, top or potting soil and a bit of peat moss in the hole first. They’ll appreciate that. Cover with soil to the top of the root ball.Press down around the plant forming a small dent. Plant the snaps 8-10 inches apart. Water thoroughly, so that a little puddle will form around. This will get rid of any air pockets.
Let them ‘celebrate’ and have full sun during the early day.
They like a daily watering and they can hold up to the desert sun from late February through mid May. In a grouping of several plants in full sun, I like to have a taller plant or shrub around them on their western side, to shield them from our intense sunsets. And Snaps do look so good in a grouping! If you have a bland space or an area of your yard that doesn’t stand out or isn’t looking well, then these plants will give a shot of bright color. Add a few daffodils in with them and you’ll be impressed as to how your dismal spot became the happy, peppy area of your yard. Plop them in a large pot next to the front door as your Welcome Spring statement to all who enter. Snaps look wonderful popping up from behind large boulders that are placed in many valley landscapes. Snaps can last (and still look nice) in the Phoenix area until mid-April.
They are called snapdragons because supposedly their flowers resemble the head of a dragon. If you grab their little flowers (the dragon’s open mouth) and click together up and down they make a slight snapping sound. My grandkids always need to try that.
To me the vision of an uneven patch of snaps are like a choir, singing on the church risers; dressed in bright choral gowns; (a reminder of back in the day when we dressed up and went to church on Easter morning, right after finding our baskets). They sing of rejoice and rejuvenation. Definitely a fresh new look especially after such a nasty winter; such a long stretch from spring of 2020 when we all shut down. Bunches of snaps are a very special welcoming to the END of this mean, stupid COVID; this crazy point in our history, reluctantly now labeled Vaccine Season!
So splurge on a flat of snapdragons and spread them around your yard and/or in pots…. Let them grow up tall and healthy. Let’s be happy that spring has sprung and that we are outside, vaccinated and able to be together again. Then cut them back and place in a vase on the table for Easter dinner and Spring cook-outs.
Hallelujah!
Enjoy the color and significance in the yard for up to 3 months, or in a vase for up to 12 days.
please enjoy a few of my past plantings and the floral designs I created from those plantings. When I’m not planting I like to photograph flowers and turn them into art or use for educational purposes. Snapdragons never let me down, creatively and they are always so pretty to look at.
