APRIL: The ground is bare in zones 7a-7b, and it makes gardeners nervous. There’s nothing blooming, so when we gaze out at the churned-up ground you might think: Oh, no! It feels like I’ve missed the boat. In fact, hush is just another stage in the natural cycle for an area spanning from Oklahoma to Virginia.
Look at the timeline: A little quiet in early spring are part of the process (but only part of it). If you know what’s coming next, you’ll approach prepping your garden bed in a different way. Think not just August flowers, but February-and-March ones, too: plants that will lend structure now when everything else is still asleep.
A Full Year of Gardening Tips
Early risers like Baptisia, and Bearded Iris, has their roots set deeply into the ground where they can withstand chilly weather. That’s why you tuck them in, before any foliage appears… To form underlying base of garden. It provides something to look at, and let your eye rest on; when no other plant are up and going.
The big bloom happens from June to August, when all those flowers is asking you, ‘So what are you going to do about it now?’ (Oh, I give up.) Coneflower, daylily, and phlox all react to long days and relatively warm nights, so their main flower season here are June through August.
But if you plant them all together, you may end up with a wild wall of all-blooms-at-once different than a sense of layering. What you need are some that don’t show off at the same moment, no? Try staggered planting by a couple of weeks’ time; or better yet, choose ones that peak slightly differently. It’ll make for a more dynamic garden.
It will also be easier to photograph but who wants a mass of color all the time? By JULY, watering becomes crucial. Most perennials are considered medium- or low-water plants, but remember: that’s only true if their soil drain well. Coreopsis and salvia won’t thrive with wet feet, which means: Don’t plant them in heavy clay without improving it first.
If a plant is naturaly adapted to dryness, such as these, it can’t handles soggy roots. You want to create drainage. Not cut off access completely. Fertilizing doesn’t help the garden as much as good drainage.
September brings another turn of season: Rudbeckia and Sedum starts to flower. New gardeners tend to think only about creating a show in spring and summer, not paying attention to these late flowers. Pollinators need them; they’re essential to providing food sources that diminish later in the year.
Keeping seed heads intact into winter help our local birds by connecting the garden to the wider environment. View it as a habitat, not just a single display, to see it as a livig place. In a milder-winter area like Zone 7, winter care is minimal: Most perennials don’t requires heavy protection. Protect their crowns from any sudden freezing by providing a light layer of mulch.
The goal is to secure roots but not hold in water that might lead to rot. More often, overprotecting them would of done more harm than good. Managing the twelve-month timeline, that’s what planting perennials is really about: creating a sequence of events that plays out each and every season. This chart will give you those dates, but you’ll add the context of how they fit into the picture together.
Next time you see some Sedum struggling in October’s low light, remember how it took over once September arrived. It wasn’t ever really empty. It was just waiting for its moment to shine.