FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – As the weather begins to get warmer, people look forward to planting flowers in their yards.

The month of April often contains mixed weather consisting of both warm and cool days. This means it’s important for people to know what they can grow now and which flowers they have to wait to grow.

Fort Wayne gardening expert and educator Ricky Kemery spoke with WANE 15 to share tips for people planting flowers for the season.

“April is not the best month for planting flowers for the year typically,” Kemery said. “With many flowers like petunias, you will have to wait until around May 10 to plant those.”

He said right now many garden centers will be offering cool season flowers like pansies that can be put in containers or in the ground to change out later on.

“Personally, I get impatient or frustrating at a garden center sometimes because there are things I want to plant now, but I have to wait a bit longer until the official growing season starts,” he said.

He like to see poppies during the spring in April because they are very cold tolerant and they tend to do well in northeast Indiana when they are planted in the ground during the month.

For growing poppies, he recommends finding a bare spot to put soil in to plant the seeds in the ground.

“Garden centers will also have a lot of perennials. This is also a good time to plant those right now,” he said. “They usually last up to 2-3 years so its good to plant those you will have for a longer time.”

Black-eyed Susans and Cone flowers are also good to plant in cooler temperatures since they are able to handle the air pressure of the region.

One of his personal favorite flower to grow is begonias. He said they come in different types and colors.

“They’re really hard to kill, so you can put them out and not have to worry so much,” he added.

When it comes to planting flowers, people are often more interested in what’s new. An example of this could be a new type of petunia that is on the market that people want to get their hands on, which have been tested to determine if they will last.

The new plants that are sold at garden centers are labeled as All-American, which he said means they come from across the United States and have been tested before being sold.

“The plants showed they can handle different weather conditions and soils,” he said.

People won’t have to worry too much about putting in fertilizer in the flowers since he said many of them have already been fertilized at garden centers. He recommends waiting about 2-3 weeks before putting in more fertilizer in the plants.

“It’s always good to talk to you gardening experts about how much you need to fertilize your flowers,” he said.