Spring

Summer

Think of the months ahead.  If you are planning to add or rearrange beds, outline the shapes with a hose, then turn over the soil and add organic matter to increase nutrients. 

Grow at least one plant you’ve never attempted before.  It might be a groundcover, such as heather or vinca. 

Introduce vertical interest via trellises, arbors and tuteur’s, then plant morning glories or love-in-a-puff to climb over them. 

As weather warms, move houseplants outside, putting them in large containers and tubs or on tiered stands.  Add pots of fragrant herbs, perhaps rosemary or basil, to the mix

Is this the year to dig a pond or invest in a table and chairs for outdoor dining?

Tour your garden, pen and paper in hand and jot down improvement ideas.  Should a border be straight not scalloped?  Do you want paths to guide the way?  Would a garden ornament produce needed interest?

Study your garden at dusk to see if it still makes magic.  You might put in fragrant white blooms that glow in the dark—Nicotiana maybe or a moonflower vine.

If you want to grow something slightly different, consider dramatic plume poppies, Macleaya cordata, which soar to 6 feet and have magnificent gray-green leaves topped with feathery spikes of tiny white flowers.  Or plant  Actinidia kolormitka,  a hardy twining climber with oval, heart-shaped, leaves that look as if they’re splashed with pink and white paint.