How to Start Your Spring Garden

How to Start Your Spring Garden

The most fragrant native plants are just heavenly. Here’s what to plant now to make sure you have them all year round.

It often feels like we live in the shadow of something, whether it’s a storm blowing through, a major earthquake, or an avalanche. But at least we don’t have to walk through a snowdrift to reach the bottom, or stand on a frozen lake to find an ice cube, or wait in a rainstorm for an umbrella.

In other words, no matter where you live, there’s usually something beautiful right outside the window.

With the season upon us, gardeners find themselves wondering what to plant this year, and how to plant it. And as the leaves on the plants begin to change, they also find themselves questioning what they’ll actually be able to harvest this year.

“My favorite part about growing an entire garden in the spring is to see what comes of it over the summer and fall,” says Michaela P. O’Brien, a gardening writer and educator in North Carolina with the blog Gardeners of the Carolina Piedmont. “When you plant new bulbs, it’s like a gift from the gods that is going into your garden — you know it when you walk by and you know it when you see it, and you can’t wait to see what your garden looks like.”

To get started, check out our spring gardens. In addition to learning a bit about what’s blooming and what’s not, you’ll discover the best way to get all the hard work out of the way.

1. Annuals

While perennial flowers like roses, hydrangeas, cleomes, and alyssum are wonderful, and they require a lot of work to grow, annuals offer a great chance to start your garden early.

In terms of flavor, annuals have a lot in common with vegetables, says O’Brien. “You can grow things like onions, peas, and beans as

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