It has been a fairly cool spring here in Des Moines this year. A far cry from last year when we were consistently seeing 90-degree temperatures at this point in the season. This is good news for the lawns continuing to drive their roots down before the heat of summer sets in. Not so much for landscape plants however, ornamental grasses haven’t filled in yet and the hydrangeas in my backyard are looking scraggly when normally they have started to fill out and bloom by about now. We have also had plenty of rainfall and it has been a slow and steady variety of rains which is great. I did notice the first crabgrass of the season last week. If you are seeing that, taking care of it earlier rather than later would be a good idea. Crabgrass is kind of strange in that it’s easier to control earlier and later in the season. In the middle of summer, it can be kind of stubborn and harder to control. Looking ahead to summer, if any of you had purchased seed or seen the prices at the store, it will be important to water every so often if we don’t have timely rains. Raising the mower deck height of the cut when it gets hot out will shade the soil and help keep it moist. Mowing often and just cutting a little bit at a time can go a long way to having a nice lawn. Reach out if there is something we can help with and have a great spring.