There’s a reason they call it “March”. 

Calling all gardeners.  The vacation is over.  Spring has sprung and she is on the move.  No more procrastinating.  No more waiting for a “nice” weekend.  It’s time to take action.  Or to put it more precisely, it’s time to “march” on out into the yard and get busy.

Somewhere in the last few weeks we have transitioned from winter to spring and all hell is breaking loose in our yards.  I first noticed it around mid February as I was on my way to church one Sunday morning.  I heard a sound that had been silent all winter.  It was the easily recognized croaking of a tree frog.  It was also the first day that the mercury had reached the high 40’s to low 50’s which seems to signal to these little guys that it is time to wake up and start courting.  It is truly amazing how much volume such a small creature can generate.  Tree frogs are only about the size of a prune yet put a bunch of them in a damp marshy area and they will sound like a symphony.  It is a sound that harkens the arrival of spring in the northwest.

Early yesterday morning while I was soaking my aging bone in my hot tub I heard the second dependable sound of spring.  It was the three part “cheerily-cherry-up-cheerio” song of the robin.  I have learned to listen for the robin’s song ever since I had a pair nest two years in a row outside my office window in a contorted Hinoki cypress.  It is incredible how these birds can hop around your lawn thumping their feet and cocking their heads and then all of a sudden dive at the ground and come up with a big fat juicy earth worm.  They are a delight to watch and their arrival always reminds me that I need to get it in gear and get busy doing my gardening chores.

These two sounds of nature are like the gun that is fired at the beginning of a race.  It is the report that marks the beginning of the spring “march” to stay ahead of the weeds, get the spring crops planted, finish the rose pruning, apply dormant spray to the fruit trees, fertilize the lawn and refresh the containers.  And that’s just the big stuff.

The chore list for March should always start with a trip to the garden center.  These people have been marching around for two months now getting everything ready for that first sunny weekend when the rest of the gardening public finally realizes that spring is here.  Nursery professionals have been potting bare root roses, fruit trees, grapes, berries, asparagus, rhubarb, gooseberries and currants to name just a few.  They have been receiving truck after truck of flowering trees and shrubs, evergreens and perennials and all sorts of garden accessories, fertilizers and mulches in anticipation of this blessed month of March.  This is the month when the proverbial compost hits the fan.

As I survey my garden it is almost frightening to see the momentum that is building.  The growth tempo has gone from andante to allegro almost overnight.  Bulbs that were just barely emerging last month are now in full bloom.  Crocus, iris, snow drops and dwarf daffodils are in full stride.  Tulips and the larger daffs are close behind.  Shrubs like Sarcacocca, Viburnum ‘Dawn’ and Witch Hazel are almost finished up.  Flowering plums are about to open their pale pink flowers and the flowering pears are hot on their heels.  Primroses, pansies, English daisies, candy tuft, Aubretia and Arabis are all budded and blooming.  Gasp, it is rapidly becoming a flowering frenzy out there.

Even where there are no flowers happening you can see definitive signs of life.  Growth buds are swelling on the Japanese maples.  Hydrangeas are sporting tips of new green leaves and roses are pushing out new bronzy shoots.  Everywhere we look we see that spring is marching forward and if we don’t want to miss the parade then we had better bite the bullet, put on the galoshes and strike up the band.  Otherwise all we are going to see is the fire engines and the pooper scoopers.

March is truly a fitting name for this month.  It’s the time when Mother Nature steps up the pace and we need to do the same thing.  So strike up the band and join the parade.  The “march” is on.  See you in the garden.