Spring Garden Prep

Do we have any serious gardening readers? I hope so, let’s talk plants. It’s about time for some Spring Garden Prep.

My Mom and I both enjoy gardening. We have a history with plants and flowers–my whole family does.

My parents owned and operated a greenhouse business themselves for 20+ years. I grew up in a greenhouse and that’s a great story… for another day. Suffice to say, I am a fan of this particular season, when we get to geek out over what’s in store for our Spring Garden.

So let’s get down to the bidness of talking about spring and plant shopping.

We recently paid a visit to one of our favorite garden center spots to stock up for planting window boxes and spring containers at The Garden Supply Company. GSCO always has a great selection and some helpful people working there that can answer all sorts of questions about their inventory. Good trees, good perennials, good annuals, good shrubs, good everything.

I snapped some cell phone shots of some of our favorite stuff at GSCO now. In Southern Pines, we are in a hardiness zone 7. You can look up your hardiness zone here. All of the plants below will work in our zone.

This bushy plant will absolutely take off. One of my neighbors has a big clump of Mexican Sage planted around their mail box. It usually puts on a big late summer show after everything else is burned out. I don’t think you’ll go wrong with this one.

The big indoor garden decor area has a ton of great gifts like this hanging succulent arrangement.

Excellent for a small herb garden on the patio or porch if you’re not ready for raised beds yet.

Because it’s likely that you’ve already killed your first Fiddle Leaf, they had several to get you on the path to redemption.

I know these small Daphne shrubs don’t look incredibly exciting but they have a great variegated leaf and they smell divine, I used to have one planted right next to the stairs leading up to our back door. Great shrub to add a little variety.

The foxtail fern is a fantastic house plant that looks cool, has a beautiful spring green color and isn’t that hard to sustain.

Dwarf evergreens are not new to us but I still love them every time I see them. They are mini versions of common shrubs and evergreens and they are fantastic for window boxes. Add some of these in a window box as foundational plants that will still be kicking at Christmas and add annuals around them for color and seasonal change. You won’t have to replant the entire planter every year, just change up your accents– kind of like throw pillows.

Starts out lime green and then comes on strong as big, white floral balls.

Lots of grasses, always. This is one of my favorites. Plant them in mass or in a container for texture. Love layered grasses in any garden but especially in a modern landscape.

This is a really an oldie but goodie perennial. The foliage looked great and the bloom was beautiful

I’ve been told that the the fruit that these ornamental trees produce is not edible but I’ve also been told that their little oranges can be sliced up and put in cocktails like a gin & tonic. They have all kinds of interest, twisted branches, thorns and tiny little orange-like fruit.

Flax is hardy and there are many varieties, this one is desired for it’s variegated foliage. This one would be great for a border, adding a different texture to a perennial garden or combining with a purple or dark leaf plant or shrub.

I planted some of this spirea in a perennial border garden. It performed really well even in drought and 95+ degree temps.
It has soft, blue-green foliage and grows in a fairly compact clumping form that would work well in front of boxwoods or other larger shrubs as a lavender alternative.

I missed the name of this evergreen, but we love his sculptural silhouette.
Could it be Hollywood Juniper?

Despite a lot of apprehension, I talked my Mom in to buying one of these. The olives that it produces are typically used for olive oil but I love the graceful blue-green foliage.

I love to try anything that the JC Raulston Arboretum has already properly vetted as hardy in our area.
Viburnum is another small shrub that’s easy to overlook but can mix things up in foundation planting beds when everyone else around here keeps planting hollies, camellias, azaleas etc.

Are you planting anything?