Top cool-season plants for Texas

Gardeners in the Southwest -- and in Texas in particular -- already might be getting the itch to start planting. Dallas Arboretum Director Jimmy Turner recently offered a quick primer on the best cool-season plants available to Texas gardeners. Here are his thoughts, which you might pass on to customers, if you're located in that part of the country:

One of the great advantages of gardening in Texas is our long, cool falls and unusually mild winters that allow us to garden year-round. This is why Texas is the leading market for pansy and other cool-season crops, such as dianthus and snapdragons.

As a home gardener, though, which varieties of 100s of pansies, violas, snapdragons and dianthus should you choose from? Well, we've done the work for you! Every winter the Dallas Arboretum's Trial Garden is filled with thousands of plant entries in our constant seach for the best varieties to use in our area, and I've listed my favorite varieties of our most-used cool-season annuals to help you out.

See the complete list.