JOHNSON CITY – Seriously, don’t plant those spring flowers yet.

That’s the advice from East Tennessee State University’s Travis Watson, the school’s campus arborist.

For gardeners across the South, the temptation is there. Temperatures have soared above normal, toppling records that in some instances stretch back more than a century.

Feb. 9 registered 72 at the Tri-Cities Airport, the nearest National Weather Service climate site, setting a new single-day temperature record. Chattanooga hit 82 on Feb. 23, a new all-time monthly record with data going back to 1879. The March 1 high in Johnson City was 76, narrowly missing the record of 81 set in 1997.

As for when to plant those lovely spring flowers, Watson recommends sticking with old-school gardening advice: wait until after Mother’s Day.

A late-winter freeze has the potential to damage a range of non-native plants that sometimes flower early if given the chance.

There is some good news, Watson said. Much of the flora that call the Appalachian Highlands home are used to back-and-forth weather.

“Most of our native trees and shrubs are well-adapted to our cycles of warm weather followed by cold and wouldn’t be expected to have any significant damage from the inevitable subfreezing temps we will experience before spring actually arrives,” he said.