Your Spring Garden Checklist - Month-by-Month

The sun is shining, the garden is waking up, and you're in charge! It's time to plant, prune and prepare your beds for the season to come. Here are a few tips on what steps to take to ensure a beautiful, lush garden this year.

March

-Clear leaf mulch from the crowns of perennials

-Cut back dead stems of perennials (if you didn’t already in the fall)

-Plant bare-root plants once soil is workable

-Press down any perennials that have been heaved by frost

-Remove protective plant coverings, such as burlap

-Top-dress beds with compost once the ground thaws

April

-Cut back summer-blooming shrubs such as hydrangea

-Divide summer and fall-blooming perennials

-Plant perennials, trees and shrubs

-Prune vines such as wisteria, clematis and climbing roses

-Weed

May

-Continue weeding

-Deadhead spring-flowering perennials

-Divide spring-flowering perennials

-Prune spring-flowering shrubs immediately after they’re done blooming

-Remove unwanted perennial seedlings

-Watch for pests such as aphids