Nancy Brachey

The enthusiasm Piedmont gardeners have for ferns and other shade plants is natural, given the vast canopy of large trees that we have to deal with in the landscape.

Mention wildlife these days, and people immediately speak up in an exasperated tone about their problems with deer feeding on prized hostas and other plants.

For charm in the garden, nothing surpasses a well-planted window box.

Pansies had a great winter and spring, but as the weather gets hotter, it is time to think about a new look for your pots, baskets and planters.

Walk through a garden center in spring and you can be overwhelmed by the choices for perennial flower beds. The range has never been greater. There’s something for all tastes and all spaces: hot spots, shade, bright colors, pastels, tall and spiky, low and trailing. It’s all there.

With your selections in hand, it is time to face the soil. Here is where the goal of perfection gains ground. Tomatoes require good, loose soil, well-laced with compost and full sun. Dig the soil at least 8 inches deep. Compost is excellent because it allows the soil to absorb and hold water but drains well. Work that soil well so roots will expand rapidly and encourage growth of stems and leaves.

The next four weeks are the busiest of the year for Piedmont gardeners. There is so much to do from planting summer flowers and vegetables to picking out the right color of blooming azaleas to keeping watch for insects. But even though it is spring, we must think about summer.

Aaaaah, spring, when all the world’s a garden.

A great wave of pink, red and purple will dominate the landscape in a couple of weeks as azaleas, then rhododendrons dominate the spring show.

Viburnums produce some of the most beautiful shrubs for the Piedmont landscape, but one in particular is on my mind these days. It is the Viburnum tinus, a lovely evergreen that now bears a huge array of fragrant white blooms.