After several days of unusually warm temperatures, you may notice some plants start peeking out of the soil this morning. However, it's only February, and we still have quite a bit of winter to go.

According to Shelly Kupfer at Gerlach's gardening center, the plants are used to the fluctuating temperatures in this climate.

"Plants send up leaves this time of year to kind of check things out, believe it or not. Those leaves can tell the plant if there's enough day length to start to grow and actually become active."

Kupfer says that if we had a prolonged stretch of warm weather in April followed by a frost and a major dip in temperatures, that is when there will start to be problems.

This warm stretch won't last, but it gave people the opportunity to prepare for when spring is here to stay.

"Some stuff can be planted now, so there's no reason to wait as long as the weather cooperates," said Kupfer. "Anytime you have a nice dry day you can be outside cleaning up and thinking about it."

Kupfer suggests that if you are new to gardening, buy plants from an experienced Gardner. They can suggest all you need to know from what to grow, to when is the best time to do so.