Hi, I'm Shane Harris for the Alden Recorder Extension System. It's officially a zealous season. A zears are blooming and garden centers are full of the plants that were ready for you to go purchase them. So what do you do with the zears once you've brought them or you brought some home for the new landscape? Today we're going to show you how to plant those zears. When it comes to site selection on your new zears, you need to take a lot of time to look where you're going to want to put this particular plant. Does it need to be near the house? Does it need to be more of a natural area? You want to give it room to grow. Zears prefer filter sun and afternoon shade. In other words, they would prefer morning sun, maybe more shade in the afternoon. They will tell right sun, but they can get very hot in the summertime. Also look for an area that's going to be well drained. Zears prefer a well drained soil, but cannot have any wet feet. So an area that provides filter sun, maybe under a pine tree, just a few hardwoods, maybe an open area that gives plenty of sun in the morning and afternoon shade when it's hot in the summer is going to be ideal. Zears should be grouped together based on color or variety and spaced properly around three to four feet apart depending on their maturity size. Now let's put the zea in the ground. The planting hose should be no deeper than the depth of the container it came in, but at least twice is wide to allow the proper root development. One common mistake is playing the zea is too deep in the ground. Adjust the depth of the planting hole by adding more soil underneath the root ball or under the pot to get the correct height and depth. Remove the zea from the container and massage and loosen up the roots along the root ball. This allows those fibrous roots to grow out properly and keeping it from being pot bound while in the ground. A common horticulture saying with the zea is, plant them high and they'll never die. You want to be sure that the root ball is about one inch above the native soil level. Again, if they're planted too deep, they will not survive. Before adding the native soil back into the planting hole and around the zea, it's a good idea to add a little bit organic matter into the native soil to have the best of both worlds. Common soil amendments would include compost or fine pine bark or the store bought soil amendment. Let's add the native soil and organic matter mixture back around the zea. Gently pushing it on each side and pressing downward so that root ball is covered and all air pockets are removed. Be sure not to bury the plant above the top of the root ball. Gently spread it out and firming the soil with your hands. Now add a layer of mulch around the plant. Choices can be pine straw or even pine bark. This is very critical for the first year of the zea as it will lose moisture since its roots are not fully established. This is very critical the first year to maintain that moisture in order to survive the hot summers. The last step is to give the zea a drink of water. You will want to water the zea at least once a week depending on the amount of rainfall and how hot the summers may be. Again, spring planted zea will need at least one year for those roots to get well established. So again, be sure to water them throughout the year. Zeas are one of our prized southern landscape plants because they last so many years. For more information on zeas and other home and garden information, visit us online at aces.edu or contact your local county extension office.