March 12th is Plant A Flower Day

If you're looking for something to do today then get ready to get your hands a little dirty because it's Plant a Flower Day!

Alright fine, you can wear gloves!

Let's get right into celebrating Plant a Flower Day!

Why is this a holiday?

Well, depending on where you live, the temperature is starting to rise, the snow is melting and the April showers are just around the corner... so it's a perfect time to plant! But why flowers, right? Well they're nice to look at, they smell nice and things like honey bees and butterflies seem to love them too! Is that a good enough reason to celebrate?

A flower, or blossom, is actually... a plant's "special parts". Yep, it's how they reproduce. And things like insects and the wind help in this process of pollination. Sure, they look and smell nice to us but what we're actually seeing is a beautiful reproductive process.

And there's an extra bonus, if you love honey or seeing butterflies, because they take part in the pollination process; transferring it from flower to flower. So the scent and colors of these flowers aren't only appealing to us; insects looking for nutritious nectar love a pretty, scented flower too!

So by planting a flower you attract appealing insects, brighten up the outdoors and are actually creating a natural gift source. That's right, I'm sure that you already realize that a lot of women like getting fresh flowers as a gift! You can also dry them for potpourri or even eat them!

So besides the fact that plants provide us with oxygen, it looks like there are a lot of good reasons to plant a flower today!

 So how can you celebrate today?

Well, head to a local store that has flower seeds of course!  Get a good idea in your mind as to where you want to put them and then think about the environment you'll be putting them into.  What type of sunlight does it get?  Is it a wet or dry area?  Do you want these flowers to come up every year or just once?  You need to figure all this out so that you select the right type of flower.

Some flowers love direct sunlight but others grow better in the shade.  Some flowers do really well in dry ground while others need a lot of water to grow.  And, when deciding on the type of seeds to buy, annuals only last a year while perennials last more than two years.  With all of that in mind, read the labels of the seed packets and pick out your perfect "crop" of flowers.

Then just follow the instructions you're given on the packet and get those babies in the ground!  Some flowers work better when you sow them indoors, but others you can put straight into the ground.  And of course you're always welcome to plant flowers that have already been started for you. 

I hope today is the beginning of a beautiful flower bed for you!