Not every spring is the same, close, but not exactly. If we were to try and define a spring as “typical” it would defy us. So, we take the weather as it comes, that way it never disappoints. This year, so far, its been perfect. We had a relatively mild winter with a few storms, some freezing temperatures and a few sunny days to keep us from getting cabin fever. All this has been good for the spring flora and we’re enjoying every minute of it. We’re seeing clear pinks and reds in the flowers of our Camellias. The Forsythia’s are bursting forth reminding us to apply pre-emergent and fertilizer to our lawns. The Hyacinths are filling the air with their heady fragrance. And the early Azaleas are giving our first strong colors.

AZALEAS: If you would like to branch out from the typical landscape standard “PJM” Azalea another option is the Azalea “Landmark”. Hybridized by Ed and Wayne Mezitt at Weston Nurseries in 1985, it is a cross with parentage including Rh. ‘PJM’ but has a deeper red coloring and shiny, mahogany-colored foliage. “Landmark” is a great plant that’s easy to grow in a wide range of conditions and quickly gets up to around 6’x6’. Easy to prune if it gets bigger than you would like.

TREE PEONY: It always surprises me how early the Tree Peony’s flower. If you haven’t tried them you might want to. They are an easy plant to grow, slowly becoming a fairly substantial shrub with huge single or double flowers opening in May.

HERB and VEGETABLE GARDENS: Year in and year out April is the time to start our Herb and Vegetable gardens. These days it seems more important than ever. In the “Post War” era, after a stretch of real importance in maintaining ‘Victory Gardens’, keeping home vegetable gardens fell somewhat out of fashion. Now though, we are more aware of how important fresh vegetables are to our general health. As more and more produce is becoming available at the grocery stores and our palates become more sophisticated with cooking shows and “farm to table” concepts prevail, there is all the more pressure to ‘grow our own’. Vineyard Gardens has been on the vanguard of the "grow it in your own backyard" movement for decades.

The following pictures illustrate the process of planting seedlings.

First arrival, the seed or feeding leaves, called ‘cotyledons’.

This is the stage when you can feather the young plants apart in order to set them out with proper spacing in the garden.

Vineyard Gardens offer weekly “Garden Talks” to help customers along on their growing journey. Click here for the list of talks that happen every Saturday, through the gardening season, at 11:00am. Events page link: https://www.vineyardgardens.net/workshops/

This past Saturday was the first "Garden Talk" discussing strategies for starting veggies and herbs from seed and getting the soil prepped and ready for growing. Chris Wiley, owner of VG and a seasoned pro, led the talk. She handed out a helpful diagram specifying when various summer vegetables should be seeded and planted in the garden. Vineyard Gardens' home grown seedlings are available at the nursery, coordinated with planting dates, if you don't get your seeds planted on time.

There’s a wide range of leafy greens that can be planted to give variety and interest to your summer salads.

This is also a good time to be planting perennial vegetables like strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus. So if you’re feeling the urge to get started with your own ‘Victory Garden’ now is the time!