Don't wait until spring arrives to transplant snapdragons to your garden. New cultivars of the old-fashioned plants thrive better in what we North Texans call winter than they do in the blast-furnace of summer.

If you see them at your garden center, buy them now for containers or sunny beds. Garden-savvy retailers know snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus ) planted now will provide the longest show.

For several years, a physician-gardener in the Swiss Avenue Historic District has filled flanking beds at the foot of his front walk with a rainbow of snapdragons. He spaces them closely; once they become established they fill in the area so no dirt is visible.

As the weather warms, they're almost always heavily in bloom. This year's planting has been in the ground more than two months, and they're already showing sporadic flowers. Recent freezes have nipped them, to be sure. But snipping off dead tips and a dose of plant food will recharge them. Meanwhile, underground, their roots are still growing.

Photos by EVANS CAGLAGE/DMN

A gardener in the Swiss Avenue Historic District annually plants a generous stand of snapdragons for the pleasure of passersby.

The ideal time to plant snapdragons is late fall, to give them time to gradually adjust to cold temperatures, known as hardening off, and to get their roots established. Dallas usually has a few cold spells with hard freezes throughout January and February (and a freeze near Easter, remember), but I've found snapdragons hold up fine because we generally have many more mild days than days below freezing.

Jimmy Turner, director of research at the Dallas Arboretum, says snapdragons grown over winter will "bulk up and produce many more flower stems and bloom longer than those planted in early spring." He says research conducted at the Arboretum's trial gardens indicates that the taller the snapdragon, the longer the bloom period.

I have no such data to offer. I just know what has succeeded in my own flower beds. Given my lack of staff, lack of an automatic drip-irrigation system, lack of time to properly tend to garden chores and the presence of dogs and ornamental chickens that shamelessly trample my flowers, if I report success you ought to be encouraged to try them yourself.

Like Mr. Turner, I am partial to the tallest snapdragons (18 to 30 inches). In a generous clump they make a strong showing in spring among the greenery of perennials that are slow to awaken. They stand stately and straight if you've planted them in a sunny spot, and their spires make beautiful arrangements mixed with other flowers from the garden. If you've chosen a site that is too shady, the stalks will lean erratically and the blooming tips may take a 90-degree turn, like a broken pinky.

Mr. Turner recommends 'La Bella', 'Coronette', 'Liberty Classic', 'Sonnet', 'Rocket' and 'Madame Butterfly' series. I've tried a beautiful container combo of white snapdragons, variegated Persian ivy and smaller-leaved, variegated creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) underplanted with white tulips and hyacinths.

There are trailing cultivars now that can be fresh additions to hanging baskets, window boxes and mixed containers, because they make compact mounds. There are also dwarf hybrids meant for the front of the flower bed. At less than 10 inches tall, they are upright like their more traditional-looking relatives but not nearly as majestic.

I'll share a shopping tip from Mr. Turner: Look for plants with darker green foliage and thick stems. This is a sign, he says, the grower hardened the plants outside rather than in a greenhouse. If the newly transplanted snaps are subjected to a sudden hard freeze after days of mild temperatures, these plants are better able to withstand it.