18. THE JOY OF SPRINGTIME PLANTERS

After a long, dark Northeastern winter, I long to see some outdoor color. As the drab gray world slowly brightens, thoughts of early spring colorful blossoms crowd out everything else. That is when I fill a few planters with fresh potting mix and plant up cold-hardy spring flowers in pastel colors. I cannot wait for seeds to sprout or cuttings to root, so I buy small flowering plants and plant them up as soon as the danger of hard frost has passed. The dose of bright colors that spring flowers offer is “just what the doctor ordered” and portend the promise of a new garden.

The key to success for spring planters is to use annual and perennial flowers that flourish in cool weather. Good choices include petunias, tulips, coral bells, bleeding heart, and sweet alyssum. I recommend that you wait until nighttime temperatures are consistently above freezing before planting outside. For example, petunias can tolerate a nighttime temperature of about 39 degrees but are damaged at 32 degrees. Below-freezing temperatures will kill the plant. If a light frost threatens, you might cover the planter and plants with a sheet. And keep a plant’s sun and shade preferences in mind. This is especially important in spring when the sun’s rays are not that strong. While petunias will grow in a partially shaded location, they will have a more abundant bloom in a sunny spot. Check the plant label for sun and/or shade requirements.

Spring planters seem to make a bigger impression than planters full of flowers later in the year. I suppose this is only natural, as the appearance of vibrant flowers is such a welcome change to our color-starved eyes. As Gertrude S. Wister, a 20th-century horticulturist and author, noted, “The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.”

Every year, in early spring, I plant a blue columbine in a planter by my front door. Here is the hybrid ‘Swan Blue and White’ columbine (Aquilegia × hybrida ‘Swan Blue and White’), which has fine, long spurs and large bicolor blossoms held atop sturdy 24-inch stems. It is a deer-resistant, spring-blooming perennial. After the flowers have passed in summer, I lift it and plant it in a flower bed. Excellent for cutting. Zones 3–8.

Celebrate spring! I created this wide entry landing for a client and located a bench there. She promptly made it a welcoming entrance by placing her collection of planters all around and filling them with bright yellow tulips, pansies, trailing white bacopa, and more. Spring flowers, however short-lived, make all the difference.

Pink and white flowers make a delightful spring planter. Here, snowy sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima), a reliable annual, joins verbena, a pink, early flowering annual. Perennial coral bells (Heuchera) sends its dainty, dark pink flower skyward. Wait for all danger of frost to pass before setting out this planter combination. By Michael’s Garden Gate Nursery, Mount Kisco, New York.

A close-up of the snowy blooms of sweet alyssum. New varieties of fragrant sweet alyssum, such as ‘Snow Princess’ and ‘White Knight,’ have enhanced heat tolerance and vigor.

The pot feet under this planter are hardly noticeable, especially when the hybrid I’Conia Begonia ‘Unbelievable Lucky Strike’ is in bloom. This mounding plant does not stop blooming until the first hard frost! It thrives in part shade. I interplanted it with the airy white euphorbia Diamond Frost® and ‘FlameThrower’ coleus (peeking out the back).