March is make or break for these 5 garden plants
March sits at the crossroads of winter dormancy and spring growth. The plants are waking up, but they haven’t fully committed to new growth yet. This small window makes March a very important month for certain garden activities – miss it, and you will suffer the consequences all season.
Some plants need to be pruned before the leaves develop. Some need to be planted now to ripen in time for summer harvest. Find the time in March, and these plants flourish. You missed the window, and you are stuck with poor flowering, weak growth, or no harvest at all.
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1. Flowers
Roses need to be pruned before they start growing, and March is the last chance to do it. Prune too late, and you’ll cut off buds that would otherwise have bloomed.
Cut hybrid tea roses and floribundas to 8-12 inches above the ground. Remove dead, damaged, or fallen branches. Climbing roses need simple pruning, just remove the dead wood and cut off the side shoots.
Roses pruned in March produce more flowers on strong stems. Don’t miss this window, and you’ll get fewer blooms and more erect, uneven plants all summer long.
2. Hydrangeas
Different hydrangeas bloom on different wood, and pruning the wrong type in March eliminates all flowers for the year. You need to know what species you have before cutting anything.
Hydrangea paniculata and arborescens bloom on new wood – cut back hard to 12-18 inches in March. Hydrangea macrophylla (mophead and lacecap) blooms on old wood, so you can prune beyond removing dead stems or you will cut flowers that have already set.
Inspect your plant before pruning. If you see fat buds forming on last year’s stems, leave them. If the growth starts in a few weeks, it is too late to prune without losing the flowers.
3. Tomatoes (seedlings)
Tomatoes need 6-8 weeks of growing indoors before planting outside, which means March is when you need to start seeds. Start too late, and the plants won’t be ripe for summer harvest.
Sow the seeds indoors with a seed starting mix, keep the soil warm and provide bright light once the seedlings emerge. Seedlings started in March are ready to be transplanted outside in May when the danger of frost has passed.
Miss March, and your tomatoes will be unripe at planting time. They will produce a small crop, and the fruit may not ripen before the fall frost ends the season.
4. Lavender
Lavender needs to be pruned in March before new growth emerges from the base. Prune too late in the spring, and you’ll be cutting off shoots that have already begun to produce.
Cut back about one-third of the plant’s height, shaping it into a rounded mound. Do not cut into old, woody stems as lavender will not regrow on bare wood.
March pruning keeps the lavender compact and covered in flowers. Skip it, and the plant becomes woody, small, and produces fewer flowers. Cut later in the spring, and you will delay the annual flowering.
5. Clematis
Clematis is a fast-growing climber that brings height and color to fences, trellises, and arches. March is an important time to prune, but how much you prune depends on when your plant blooms.
Late varieties (often called pruning group 3) bloom on new growth and benefit from heavy pruning now. Cut back to 12-13 inches above the ground to encourage stronger new shoots and better blooms later in the season.
Early blooming varieties require light touch, as they bloom with growth from the previous year. Pruning them hard in March can remove this season’s flowers, so if you’re not sure what variety you have, it’s best to prune carefully or wait until after flowering.
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