No fooling, April means spring begins in earnest. And snow is still to be expected!

In the first week of April in the landscape, trees and shrubs may have the smallest hints of flowers at the tips or buds are just starting to swell. That first hint of expansion gives way to a full range of greens and forsythia blooms by April 30th.

All month, we will have flowering spring bulbs, herbs, pansies and violas. Lenten Rose Hellebore ranging from dark pink to white dominate our perennial offering early. Spring ephemerals (like Bloodroot and more woodland natives) come available in mid-April. After April 15, spring-blooming perennials arrive weekly and can be planted in prepared garden beds immediately.

Shrubs and trees also arrive every few days. Check our Plant Finder to learn more about what we should have this year (or can acquire for you.) Spring bloomers now available are Andromeda (Pieris japonica), Forsythia, Magnolia, Willow (Salix), Flowering Cherry and Azalea.

We have a wide selection of fruit trees now ready for planting. To manage potential pests, use a dormant oil spray before buds open on your fruit trees. Choose a dry day with temps above 40 and you will disrupt the lifecycle of overwintering pests.

Bulbs and corms for summer have arrived. Perfect for a cut-flower garden: Calla, Dahlia, Gladiolus, Glamini and Acidanthera. Start them indoors by early May, plant outside in June, and you’ll have blooms for cutting by July.

The tropical greenhouse has ferns, easy-care foliage, orchids, violets and cacti to satisfy your need for green and color. It’s fun to get a small houseplant and test where it grows best by moving it to different locations in your home. Study it’s water use, foliage color and habit because you’ll learn so much about what all plants need as they grow in spring.

Early April is about 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost in our area. Start your garden seeds (like tomatoes) now. Garden seeds and seed-starting supplies fill the back wall of the garden center. Peas can be planted in the garden as soon as soil can be worked!

Be sure to get your mulches, compost and top-soils now. Most are on sale! Mulch is essential for reducing annual weeds and keeping soils moist around perennials, shrubs and trees. Refresh those mulches now! Also, check out our in-store sales flyer to scope out all the best deals.

All seed feeders will attract bears to your property now through November. Don’t encourage them. Please remove these feeders unless you hang them from a second-story window. Instead, put up bluebird houses!

Mount your house on a pole or post roughly 4 to 6 feet above the ground in a relatively open area, with the entrance facing a large tree or shrub 25 to 100 feet away. If you mount more than one house, position them roughly 100 yards apart to give birds adequate space to feel secure. See more about attracting birds in our tips below .