20 EARLY SPRING GARDEN IDEAS FOR GARDENERS WHO CAN’T WAIT TO DIG IN
Get a head start on your spring yard with these garden design ideas and tipsAfter a long, cold winter, gardeners are anxious to get their hands in the dirt. Even if winter is still lingering, there are things you can do to get a jump start on the gardening season. Early spring is the perfect time to start planning and preparing for the gardening season, and to get some of those lingering yard projects done. Here are some early spring garden design ideas to get you started.
1. Take Stock
Even if the ground is still frozen and covered in snow, this is a perfect time to start dreaming and planning for spring. Evaluate what worked in your yard last year, and what needs changing. Perhaps an area of the yard needs a makeover, or you want to create entirely new garden beds. Draw a rough sketch and make a list of plants you want to add, along with a list of plants you might want to eliminate. Make a to-do list for projects you’ve been putting off.
See some of the spring garden decisions that Linda Vater of Garden Inspired Life made in her own yard.
2. Observe
Take note of views from windows inside your home during winter and early spring. Can you see features such as arbors and fencing that provide winter structure, or focal points such as statuary, garden art and containers? Do you have plants with interesting structure or texture, evergreen foliage, berries, seed heads, or flowers? Take pictures of indoor views where you might want to add outdoor features and plants that provide a seasonal vignette during the dormant season.
3. Grow Bulbs
Plant bulbs to add early spring color to beds, borders and containers. Photo by Janet Loughrey.
Planting early spring bulbs in your yard is a great way to add color at a time when little else is in bloom. Snowdrops, crocus and daffodils will naturalize and multiply, spreading more each year. Early crocus can be naturalized in a lawn for a surprising pop of color. Though the time to purchase and plant spring-blooming bulbs is in fall, early spring is a good time to evaluate your existing bulb plantings and plan for next year.
4. Add Lights to Outdoor Spaces
The shorter days of winter can feel dark and dreary. Add decorative twinkle lights to a porch, arbor, fence, or evergreen plants. Leave lights on through early spring to retain a festive mood.
If you don't want to disturb wildlife, find out how you can add garden lighting that reduces light pollution.
5. Grow Plants Indoors
Plant a miniature herb garden with parsley, basil, thyme and oregano. Place potted plants on a sunny kitchen windowsill where you can enjoy the fragrance and snip fresh herbs for the dinner table. Tender potted plants such as geraniums, coleus and fancy-leaf begonias can be overwintered inside, adding bright color to indoor spaces.
6. Order Seeds
Growing plants from seed is a great way to expand your collection of annuals, perennials, vegetables and herbs without spending a lot of money. Seed catalogs are published in winter so gardeners can start dreaming and planning for spring. In addition to tried-and-true favorites, order a few seed varieties that you’re not familiar with, so you can try something new. Adding new plants to garden beds is a great way to create a fresh, new look.
7. Plant Spring Ephemerals
Spring ephemerals such as trilliums that bloom early and go dormant in summer can be tucked between other plants that flower later in the growing season. Photo by Janet Loughrey.
Add early-season color to containers and beds with spring ephemerals such as bloodroot, camas lily, Dutchman’s breeches, Jack-in-the-pulpit, mayapple, rue anemone, trillium, trout lily, and Virginia bluebells. These hardy perennials are the first to leaf out and bloom in early spring, with flowers that support early-season pollinators. Since spring ephemerals go dormant in summer, they can be tucked in a border planting among other plants that bloom later in the season for a succession of color.
8. Get a Head Start on the Vegetable Garden
Warm-weather crops such as tomatoes and peppers can be started in early spring under indoor grow lights. Start cool-weather crops such as kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, radishes and peas in a cold frame, heated greenhouse, or indoors. Weed raised beds to prepare them for planting.
Related: Get a Headstart with These 16 Spring Vegetables
9. Dress Up the Porch
Even if it’s too cold to sit outside, you can still make your porch look beautiful and enjoy it as you come and go. Using spring-inspired soft pastel colors, adorn chairs with decorative cushions, and add a durable outdoor rug. Plant some larger pots with plants and bulbs for early spring color, and include stems of berries, evergreen boughs and twinkle lights.
10. Plant a Wildflower Garden
Plant a wildflower meadow in early spring to support pollinators and other beneficial insects. Photo by Janet Loughrey.
Early spring is a great time to direct sow wildflower seeds such as poppy, baby blue eyes, bachelor’s button, clarkia, linaria, phlox, scarlet flax and sweet William. Buy seeds for individual varieties, or a prepackaged wildflower seed mix that does well in your area. In warmer zones, wildflower seeds can be sown in late fall to early winter for early spring color.
11. Add a Fire Element
A fire pit or fireplace brings warmth and extends time outdoors in early spring. Designer: Debbie Brooks. Photo by Janet Loughrey.
Make it more comfortable to spend time outdoors in early spring by installing a fire pit or fireplace. Create an intimate seating area using durable outdoor couches or chairs and include throw blankets for cozy comfort on cooler spring evenings.
12. Install a Water Feature
Add a water feature to bring the sound and movement of water into your yard. Laurel Hedge, design by Matthew Greydanus and Darrin Simmons. Photo by Janet Loughrey.
Early spring is a good time to add a water element such as a fountain, birdbath, waterfall, or pond. The soothing sound of moving water drowns out urban noises and provides a calming, meditative atmosphere. Water also attracts songbirds and other wildlife to your yard. Consider how much time you have to maintain your water feature, and choose one that is easy to clean for minimal maintenance.
13. Buy Summer Bulbs
Nurseries, garden centers and online companies offer summer-blooming bulbs beginning in early spring. Set aside time to plan out your summer-blooming garden. Make sure to include some of these blooming beauties such as canna lily, crocosmia, dahlia, gladiolus, iris, Asiatic lilies and Oriental lilies.
14. Decorate for Spring
When decorating the early spring garden, use elements in cheerful spring tones to brighten up areas of the yard. Choose a color theme and add the same color echoes throughout the landscape for repetition and unity. Freshen the look of a patio or deck with new cushions, pillows, or rugs. Hang wind chimes for musical sound, and place brightly colored flags or banners on your porch and around the yard. Place a colorful painted bench at the end of a pathway. Include plants with white flowers for a sophisticated spring look.
15. Make Artful Arrangements
Create early spring arrangements with forced branches of flowering forsythia, pussy willow, cherry and witch hazel. Add moss or twigs for an organic look. Include spring-blooming bulbs such as sweetly fragrant narcissus and hyacinth.
16. Add New Garden Beds
Early spring is a good time to add new garden beds and flower beds. Outline new beds with string or a garden hose. Peruse magazines and online sources for early spring garden border ideas that inspire. Raised beds for vegetables can be ordered or built even when it’s too early to prepare the soil. Place raised beds in full sun where vegetable plants thrive. Add soil and amend as needed so you’ll have beds ready when it’s time for spring planting.
See how Steph Ferreira of Hooked and Rooted converted her old wooden raised beds to durable metal garden troughs.
17. Add or Revamp Hardscape
Early spring is a good time to evaluate existing hardscape such as patios and pathways. Check for any damage caused over the winter from freeze/thaw cycles and repair as needed. This is also a good time to redesign or build a new pathway, patio or deck before you get too busy with gardening chores.
18. Decorate with Hanging Baskets and Window Boxes
Adorn a porch, patio or balcony with hanging baskets or window boxes planted with early spring bloomers such as pansies, primrose, ranunculus, cineraria, crocus, hyacinth and daffodils. Add lush green moss or ground covers such as creeping Jenny, lamium or bugleweed. Plants can be removed when they are finished blooming and replaced with warm-season plants for a fresh new look.
19. Adorn an Entryway
Your home’s outdoor entrance creates a first impression for visitors and neighbors. Decorate your front door with a spring-themed wreath, plaque, basket or cheerful welcome sign. Place containers on either side of the doorway or sidewalk and plant with early bloomers such as pansies, hellebores and primrose, or boxwood for evergreen color.
20. Refresh Structures
Early spring is a good time to repaint a wooden fence, arbor, trellis or pergola. Choose a new color for a fresh look, and use the same colors throughout the yard for repetition and unity.
Also, see how structures can be used to create a sense of enclosure in the garden.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Janet Loughrey is a veteran garden writer and photographer with over 25 years of experience, contributing to major publications like Garden Design, Better Homes and Gardens, and Sunset. A former Master Gardener, she brings hands-on expertise from gardening in a wide range of climates, from upstate New York to the Pacific Northwest.
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