Hi, Gardening Friends!
April in Glenside, Abington, Jenkintown and beyond is a dangerous little month. One sunny week, and suddenly we’re all out here acting like it’s safe to plant everything we’ve ever loved. It is not.
This is the annual spring trap: the porch pots come home, the herbs start whispering to you, and one warm afternoon convinces you that winter has respectfully moved on. Meanwhile, spring in southeastern Pennsylvania is still perfectly capable of throwing a cold night or a late frost into the mix. So, this is your last-frost reality check. Not to crush your spirit. Just to save you from buying the same basil twice.
The real April goal
If you want to scratch the gardening itch right now without creating heartbreak, focus on hardy plants, early bloomers, trees, shrubs, and perennials that can deal with a chilly nights.
3 things generally safe to plant now
1. Hardy native perennials
This is a great time to plant perennials that are built for our region. Cool soil and spring rain give them a chance to settle in before summer gets too hot.
2. Trees and shrubs
If you’ve been thinking about adding a native shrub or tree, now is a very good time. Early blooming woody plants are especially helpful because they feed pollinators before the rest of the garden really gets going. And this is a good time to mention that the Shade Tree Commission is giving away shade trees at its annual event on April 18th from 9 – 11 am at Crestmont Park, 2595 Rubicam Ave, Willow Grove, PA 19090.
3. Spring bloomers
If you want the yard to feel alive now, this is where you get the payoff. Spring bloomers and spring ephemerals (plants that usually disappear back into the ground like hyacinth, which means you forget where you planted them and then dig them up by accident) can support early pollinators at exactly the moment they’re emerging and looking for food.
This is the category for people who are itching to get working in the garden without making poor emotional decisions in the annuals section.
3 things to wait on
1. Basil, tomatoes, peppers, and other warm-weather babies
These are not “it hit 72 degrees on Wednesday” plants. These are “the nights are reliably warm, and nobody is reaching for a coat after dinner” plants.
2. Tender annuals and hanging baskets
They look cheerful in the store because they have been living their best protected life. Do not bring them home and immediately introduce them to a 39-degree night like it’s a character-building exercise.
3. Anything greenhouse-spoiled that clearly wants a warmer future
If it looks tropical, lush, or emotionally fragile, it can wait.
Hardening off: a necessary exercise
Plants that have been raised indoors or in a greenhouse need time to adjust to sun, wind, and temperature swings. That transition is called hardening off, and it basically means easing them into outdoor life over a week or two instead of tossing them out there and hoping for the best. In other words, don’t take a tomato from your warm kitchen windowsill and throw it straight into April because you personally are feeling optimistic. The plant won’t love you for it.
If you want to help pollinators right now, think early shift
A lot of us picture pollinator gardening as something you’d see in July, when everything is blooming and buzzing and looking very successful on Instagram. But early spring matters too.
This is when early native bees are emerging. This is when some butterflies are already moving. This is when flowering trees and shrubs do a lot of heavy lifting. And this is also why not every useful plant in April is a flashy one. Sometimes the most important spring plants are simply the ones showing up on time.
It’s also why leaving a little mess in the garden can still count as doing something right. If your stems are still standing and your leaf litter hasn’t been fully cleaned out yet, that’s not neglect, it’s habitat. A comforting thought for mediocre gardeners like me everywhere.
The mediocre gardener version of restraint
So, here’s the 4-step plan:
- Plant the sturdy stuff now.
- Wait on the tender stuff.
- Harden off anything that has been living the easy life.
- And remember that the best April gardener is not the one who planted first. It’s the one who didn’t have to buy everything twice.
Neighborhood Notes
You may notice something new at Primex this month: native plants marked with stickers that say things like Pollinator Pit Stop, Stormwater Sponge, Caterpillar Café, and Bird Buffet, it’s a simple way to help shoppers, like you, understand what a plant actually does, not just what it will look like in your garden.
There will also be a native plant shopping menu in the store to help guide decisions when you’re not quite sure where to start with picking plants. Sometimes the hardest part of planting season isn’t enthusiasm. It’s figuring out which plants make sense for your yard, your goals, and the birds, bees, and butterflies you’re hoping to support. A very mediocre gardener problem and hopefully a pretty helpful local solution.
Let me know what you think of them, if you find them helpful and most importantly if it changed your mind about picking a native plant over a non-native. Email me at dearmediocregardener@gmail.com or message me on Instagram @themediocregardener and you can also share your thoughts with staff at Primex. They’ve been awesome partners in making this happen, it wouldn’t have been possible if they didn’t agree to my crazy idea and I’m so excited to hear what you think and how it helps!
Yours in mediocrity,
Edel
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