If you’re also working on your spring garden plans, late winter is when the real progress begins. From pruning roses to dividing bulbs and refreshing mulch, this is the season where garden design decisions shape how spring flowers will look in just a few weeks. I’m slowly building a layered, cottage garden feel in my Nashville yard, and here’s what I’m focusing on right now.
Here in Nashville, we're lucky to typically have some warm days in February where we can start to get some things cleaned up, cleared out and ready for spring in our gardens. I've been so eager this year to get started on my cottage garden, and can't wait to see the bulbs that I put in about a month ago. In the meantime this is what I've been working on out there.
Late Winter Garden Cleanup for Spring Garden Plans
Cleaning out invasive plants is always my first step in my spring garden plans and overall garden design refresh. It's so much less daunting to tackle this when it's not growing season.
My biggest job so far has been to pull out a large amount of the mint that had taken over my front garden bed. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to walk outside and cut fresh mint for drinks, cooking, etc. but it got far too overgrown last year, and my goal is to keep it into a certain area of this bed instead of just letting it take over the entire thing.
I enlisted some help with getting some of the trickier stuff that gets in to my yard (poke weed, volunteer elm, privet, and some other stuff like that pop up absolutely anywhere they please!). These guys were amazing, and got the trickier things out, plus put down a layer of mulch over the whole front area for me in about 3 hours. Sometimes it really is worth it to ask for help, lol.
Hydrangea Pruning
Pruning hydrangeas in late winter is an important part of preparing for healthy spring flowers and keeping a cornerstone of my cottage garden design in top form. Rely on Martha Stewart to have good advice on this, if you ever forget the schedule of when to prune.
Just before my team of helpers came in and fully mulched, I came through and cut back all the hydrangea I have in the yard (which I realized the total count I've got in the yard is up to about 12!) so that they can grow and bloom strong this year. I have 3-4 different varieties around the yard, some of them I've had nearly 15 years and others are only 2-3 years old. But they all do really well in my area, since we have such hot, humid summers.
Planning, Moving, Pruning & Planting in the Late Winter Garden
I'm planning to plant some low-maintenance, flowering perennials in the main hydrangea bed, near the front and between the row of azaleas and hydrangeas. The overall goal is for the garden to be looking overflowing in peak summer with cottage-style flowers that are not too crazy difficult to maintain once it gets peak heat.
Moving my Narcissus/Daffodils
About a month ago, I put in tulip and allium bulbs in the area near the house front, and I wanted to move the narcissus over to join the other bulbs. It'll make a nice staccato effect on the colors up there, contributing to the beginning of creating the cottage garden feel.
So, taking another cue from Monty Don's spring to-do's, I dug up a patch of daffodils that have been in a random spot in my front yard since I moved in 20+ years ago. I'm slow by slow designing bulb drifts at the front corner of the front garden, envisioning them coming up at different times.
The one existing clump had SO much underneath, and I was able to spread them out nicely over the whole front. I tried to leave them in small clumps, and let them look as if they're naturally coming up, not rigidly designed. Since I didn't plant these, I don't know the variety, but they are really friendly little guys that pop up and smell so sweet and like spring. Some of them are alllllllmost ready to pop open, but not quite yet.
Planting with the Endgame in Mind
In cottage gardens, layering early, mid, and late spring flowers creates continuous movement and color. Designing in loose drifts rather than rigid rows helps the garden feel abundant and natural.
That being said, my big goal for the garden this year is to both be quite intentional with my planting, while also allowing the flowers to get big, large and wild within their borders. Unlike art, the garden is a living thing, so we can include the factor of time within the planning of our designs. Layering the spring flowers with the intention of staggered bloom times will create a "perpetual canvas" of colors, and flowers at different stages, and different levels of greenery from leaves, branches and petals coming and going.
Pruning Back Roses
Roses are essential in my cottage garden plans because they provide structure, height, and repeat blooming throughout the growing season. Plus, the aroma floating through the air is literally incomparable.
Keeping that in mind, I've been going around and checking on all my roses. The two that I have up front are David Austen shrub roses that I'm obsessed with. I have more in the back garden as well, but a few of these got diseased last year and will have to come out, unfortunately.
Luckily, those weren't my treasured David Austen varieties, but still they were really lovely and I hate that I have to throw them out.
For the ones that are still healthy, I've cut them all back as well. Gardenista always has good tips on this, as well as Monty and Martha. But here's the link to Gardenista's advice.
Bulb Thinning and Spreading
Most of the photos here are pretty similar, lol, but every time I walk outside I see a tiny bit of change. Other bulbs and early spring things are starting to push up in the beds up front, lenten roses are blooming full in the back, and I put in a few new frost hardy perennials up front after a birthday trip to the garden center.
Now I've got an anemone, some other early spring bulbs, and canterbury bells added to the list of what will be coming up and adding to the cottage vibe up there!
Future Container Garden Design Ideas
Trying to decide on a grouping of oversized terracotta pots along the alleyway as well, to put in some quick growing, sun-loving spring or summer flowers between my row of gingko trees. Since I have a gravel path over in that area, I feel like it'll look really nice to have it a little more structured, with cottage style planting of overflowing flowers in pots getting full sun all day.
A quick access potted herbs garden could be a good use for that area as well, as my kitchen side door is just right there! I could have the more heat loving, drained soil friendly herbs there ready to go for cooking time.
Can't wait to share more. Just today, we've got little snowflakes falling, so I know there is definitely still plenty of time for planning. But I'm eager to get out there!
xx
Meg
p.s. My Spring Garden Plans Checklist
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Clear out invasive growth before the season begins
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Prune hydrangeas for stronger spring flowers
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Divide and move bulbs to improve garden design flow
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Layer spring flowers for staggered bloom times
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Cut back roses to support cottage garden structure
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Plan container garden design for sunny spaces
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