Southeast Gardeners' April Checklist: Spring Tasks for a Thriving Garden

April wraps the entire month in spring. With March madness behind us and May's merriment ahead, many feel the need to pause and appreciate our gardens. April brims with tulips, daffodils, Virginia bluebells, Yoshino cherry and crabapple blossoms, flowering dogwood, candytuft, azaleas, creeping phlox, and more.

Everyone's a gardener in springtime.

Prune Azaleas

Prune just after they bloom. Wait too long and you'll cut off next year's flowers. Same with forsythia—prune soon after flowering to shape or manage size.

Enjoy Southern Magnolias

It's normal to see significant leaf shed on southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) beginning this month. Some find it messy, but if you let the magnolia grow naturally without limbing up, leaves fall within the drip line and hide under the tree's skirt.

Historically, encouraging a ground-touching skirt involved weighing lower branches with rope and bricks. A skirt hides leaves and makes the tree stately from the ground up. Once limbs are cut, there's no going back.

Plant Annual Herbs

Plant basil after the final frost. Biennials like parsley and perennials like rosemary, chives, thyme, and mint can go in now.

Plant Tomatoes

For preserving, plant determinate bush types—they fruit and ripen all at once (within a week). For vine-ripened tomatoes all summer through frost, plant indeterminate varieties.

Water Wisely

Water-wise doesn't mean never watering—it means watering wisely. Plants need regular water the first weeks after planting or transplanting, and during development—even drought-tolerant ones.

I divide garden beds into watering zones: oasis, transitional, and xeric.

• Oasis zone: Thirstier plants near a water source
• Transitional zone: Plants needing occasional water during drought, a hose-draggable distance from water
• Xeric zone: Plants needing no supplemental water once established—never watered

Employ Sustainable Practices

A sharpened hoe is your best friend in a sustainable garden. Put chemicals away and hoe weeds—good exercise and better for the environment.

Read more ways to naturally tackle weeds

Transplant Bulbs

If you forced paperwhite narcissus indoors over holidays using soil, plant outdoors now for years of enjoyment. If forced without soil, it's spent—compost it.

I know fading daffodil foliage drives you crazy, but keep those clippers away. Yellowing leaves collect food for next year's nourishment.

Plant Annuals After Frost

Wait until after the last frost for tender annuals like impatiens and petunias. The National Climatic Data Center helps determine your region's last frost date.

Don't rush—garden centers stock summer annuals well before planting time. Know when it's safe.

Watch for Mildew

Problems with impatiens last year? Impatiens downy mildew (Plasmopara obducens) has become an East Coast issue. Entire beds have died in weeks.

What to watch for:

• Foliage turns pale green or yellow; whitish growth appears on leaf undersides
• Leaf edges curl downward

Sadly, little can be done. Best defense: stay aware. If you suspect infection, remove plants and all debris. Don't replant impatiens in that bed for several years.

More regional gardening guides