As winter’s grip becomes weaker, the first signs of Spring are the audible ones– American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds starting to announce their presence after their long winter silence.

March is the transition from Winter to Spring and with warmer days ahead plants and flowers, just like our Van Wilgen’s customers, are starting to venture outside. Last week one of my neighbors had been unwell, so I asked Brianna to make up a planter for them. Cold-tolerant plants such as Pansies, Violas, Ranunculus, Tulips, Hyacinths and Daffodils offer resilience against any occasional cold nights or frosty mornings and are guaranteed to bring some colorful cheer back into our lives.

As the old English proverb says, March comes in like a Lion and goes out like a Lamb!

Things are uncertain right now and your routine has likely been upended, but one thing that is consistent is the need to get outside and the importance of spring cleaning this time of year!

That need is never more important than in your yard. This is the time to get some fresh air while you clean up, remove leaf debris and rake out the clutter from your garden.

It’s important as you cut back your ornamental grasses and prune and cut back your roses and perennials, make sure to spread a nice layer of mulch. For plant health, the best practice is to lay a three-inch-thick layer of woody mulch. Anything that is bark-based will do.

This is also the time to fertilize as well, and I’ll have more advice on that next week.

Applying Preen is also beneficial right now. The pre-emergent will prevent weeds from coming up and reduce the amount of maintenance you need to do throughout the year. If you really want to enter the green thumb zone, add compost to your beds before you lay down mulch, which will add some nice organic matter into the soil. For those of you who are at home and would rather not come into the Garden Center right now, we deliver mulch in bulk, which you can pay for over the phone or online. We’ll drop it off in your driveway and you don’t even need to come outside. Please, though, do get outside and enjoy the changing season and freshen up your landscape!

-Will