Spring Color for Your Porch: What to Plant, and When

There's a stretch each spring when the yard still looks tired, the evenings are cold, and a pot of bright flowers by the front door is the best thing you can do for your mood. The trick is knowing which plants can handle that early chill and which ones need to wait. Get the order right and your porch stays colorful from the first mild week all the way into summer.

Start with the cool-season crowd

When the first warm days arrive, our benches fill with primroses and pansies. These are cool-season plants. They like chilly mornings and bright days, and they'll sit through a cold snap that would flatten a petunia. Ranunculus, with its layered, paper-thin blooms, belongs in the same early crowd, and you may see it on the benches in spring too. Our flowers page also lists tulips, hyacinth and daffodils for spring, which are worth planting in pots as well.

Primroses make a low, ruffled mound in magenta, purple and more. Pansies fill in around them and keep blooming as long as the weather stays cool. If you want a bit of height, a few bulbs or a ranunculus in the center gives the pot some shape. For a bed rather than a pot, early spring perennials like heather, rhododendron, primroses and sedums are good places to begin.

The frost question

Late frosts happen in the valley, and they catch plenty of people who got excited too early. Pansies and primroses shrug off a light frost. Geraniums and petunias do not. We won't hand you a magic date, because it changes year to year. Instead, wait until nights are reliably mild before you plant tender summer annuals, and keep an eye on the forecast.

If you do plant early, keep an old sheet or blanket handy and cover the pots on cold nights, or carry them into the garage. A container has one big advantage over a flower bed: you can move it. That's a good reason to keep your pots light enough to lift, or set them on a plant caddy with wheels.

Then comes the summer swap

Once the danger of frost has passed, summer color takes over. Our flowers page pairs geraniums and pansies with sweet potato vines, petunias with million bells, begonias with impatiens, and salvia with lavender. Sun and shade matter here: geraniums, petunias, salvia and lavender want a sunny spot, while begonias and impatiens are happier where they get some relief from the afternoon sun.

Cool-season flowers fade when the heat arrives. When your pansies get leggy and stop blooming, pull them out, refresh the soil and replant. It feels like a lot of work, but it's really one small afternoon, and the pot looks new again.

Building a pot that looks good

A great container is mostly about the basics. Start with a pot that has drainage holes, because roots sitting in water are the quickest way to lose a planter. Fresh potting soil comes next, not dirt from the garden, which packs down hard in a container. From there, think in layers:

• Something tall or upright in the center or at the back.
• A few mounding flowers around it for the main color.
• Something that trails over the edge to soften the rim.
• Plants with similar needs, so one watering schedule works for the whole pot.

Plant at the same depth the flowers were growing in their nursery pots, firm the soil gently, and water until it runs out the bottom. Then give the plants a few days before you judge them. A newly planted pot can look shocked for a little while.

Let us plant it for you

If planting isn't your thing, or you have a favorite pot you'd like to put to work, our custom potting service is built for exactly that. Drop your containers off with an idea of the colors or flowers you'd like, and we'll plant them for you. Drainage material, flowers, plants and soil are provided. You can also pick up a custom pot we've already done, which makes a good gift for somebody who deserves flowers.

If you need a new container, our custom potting page shows the range: ceramic, metal, terracotta and quality plastic pots, plus wooden planters and trellises. Inventory depends on what's in stock, so ask what's out on the floor right now.

Keeping it going

Containers dry out faster than the ground, especially in valley sun and wind. Once summer arrives, check pots every day, and water when the top inch or so feels dry. Pinch off spent blooms to keep new ones coming, and feed regularly, since flowers in pots burn through the nutrients in the soil quickly.

Stop by 6710 Tieton Dr. and take a lap through the flower benches before you pick your colors. Or call us at (509) 966-0698 if you have a pot in mind and want to talk it through.