The rain has cleared, the sun is shining and spring has officially arrived. As gardeners take advantage of the warm temperatures to begin spring planting, some like 109 resident Kim Eppstein, will keep dry weather conditions in mind when preparing their gardens for spring.

When deciding what will go in her garden, Eppstein always looks for a variety of plants with different colors, bloom times and plant heights. This year however, she has also taken the drought and possible future dry season into account, she said.

“In terms of plants, I did not even plant flowering plants in the front yard this year during the winter time,” she said. “I’ve kind of cut back on what I was planning and I’m trying to plant more drought-resistant plants.”

Steve Huddleston, senior horticulturist at Fort Worth Botanic Garden, said he advised gardeners to take precaution this year.

“I think drought is a big issue for all gardeners and I’ve heard we could very well have another hot, dry summer this year as we did last year,” he said.

He suggested people choose plants that conserve water and make sure to mulch their flowerbeds. It would also be helpful to find plants native to North Central Texas such as the blue mist flower, indigobush or Carolina jessamine.

Lowe’s live nursery specialist Stacy Estet said native and drought-tolerant plants comprise some of the most popular plants sold at the Lowe’s on Bryant Irvin Road.

She has noticed that last year’s drought has affected what types of plants people are planting this gardening season. People are replacing their foundation in planting, like trees and shrubs that they have lost, Estet said.

Although the drought is a concern to gardeners, Estet said she has still heard about a variety of projects that people are doing this spring, regardless of the weather.

“There are people who are doing large-scale landscape remodels and those that are just filling pots. We get them all,” she said.

Eppstein recently remodeled her backyard just after the worst of the drought, she said. All different kinds of plants and flowers, from roses cascading over fences to flower beds of lilies, carolina jessamines, liriope and azaleas fill her backyard.

No matter what the weather, Eppstein said she loves gardening because she loves the peace it gives her.

“Gardening is kind of like painting,” she said. “It’s really slow painting because you plant something and you think it’s going to look a certain way…So it takes a lot of patience but it’s usually worth it.”

Estet said that many people that love gardening like Eppstein will be filling up the gardening department and other gardening stores for a while. The weather may affect garden preparation, but springtime and gardening will always go hand in hand.

“There are some things that people will always invest in, and that is their landscape,” she said.