Seasonal Color

Spring

Spring is for noticing what is waking up.

Fresh growth, herbs going back in, the flowering shrubs, and the first perennials breaking ground. This is the season with the most momentum and the least need for help — the job in spring is mostly to get out of the way and not dig up the perennials that are late to wake.

Good now: herbs, quince finishing, camellias finishing, daylilies starting into growth, roses breaking bud.

Summer

Summer is when the garden earns its name.

Heat-lovers, the long-blooming roses, panicle hydrangeas, pollinator plants at full tilt, blueberries ripening. The work shifts to water, and to deadheading the things that are not self-cleaning.

Good now: panicle hydrangeas, Drift roses, asclepias, daylilies, basil and the tender herbs.

Fall

Fall is a planting season, not just a cleanup season.

This is the one people get wrong. The soil is still warm, the air has stopped punishing new plants, and roots put on real growth while the top of the plant rests. Anything woody you plant now is ahead of the same plant bought next April.

Good now: mums, cool-season color, trees and shrubs, perennials, pansies and violas, kale and cabbage.

Winter

A quiet garden is still a garden.

Evergreens, camellias in flower, structure, seed heads, and the shape of things without their leaves. Also the season for planning, which is a real garden activity and not a euphemism for doing nothing.

Good now: camellias, liriope, winter savory and thyme, quince buds swelling, dried hydrangea heads left standing.

Fall Vibes

For the season we are actually in: mums in odd numbers, a kale or cabbage for texture, pansies and violas at the front, and a pot of thyme by the door that will still be there in March.