Gardeners often skip over planting their window boxes and containers for spring because they feel like soon enough they’ll be planting annuals. At Victoria Gardens, we don’t recommend putting annuals outside until the threat of frost has passed; Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, is our “safe” date for outdoor flower gardening after the thaw.
Even dividing an overgrown hosta, planting a piece of it in a pot, and watching it leaf out every day can be uplifting.
But you could start having color and blooms in your planters as early as March! March, April, and half of May is a long stretch of time—made even longer by the lack of color in your planters!Use spring blooming perennials in your containers, along with potted spring blooming bulbs, to celebrate the first moments of spring.
Then in May, you can move those bulbs and perennials into your garden and replace them with annuals to give you color from May until the first hard frost of October.
Every spring we have tulips, hyacinth, snow drops, and daffodils available in pots. So, if you forgot to plant your spring blooming bulbs in the fall, you can still experience these vibrant heralds of spring.
Visit your favorite nursery early and pick up a combination of hellebore, candytuft, ajuga, and spring blooming bulbs for your window boxes or the planter by your front door. Even dividing an overgrown hosta, planting a piece of it in a pot, and watching it leaf out every day can be uplifting.
Another idea to get the most out of your window boxes and planters in early spring is to seed salad greens into your containers. Extend the growing season and keep those greens close to the kitchen door for salad on an April evening. Or think “out of the box” and use a small trellis to grow snap peas in a container on your porch or deck.
After a long winter, you have so many opportunities to savor spring—even earlier than you usually do!
