March Garden Checklist for the Southeast: Spring into Action

March invites Southeast gardeners to break routine—mix vegetables with ornamentals, add a wildlife pond, grow herbs in containers, or plant a butterfly-host vine. Beauty often emerges from the unexpected.

Garden Tours: Inspiration on the Road

Spring garden tours are a fantastic way to discover regionally proven plants, gather design ideas, and enjoy a day out. Even a single takeaway makes the trip worthwhile. A successful tour leaves every participant with a different favorite garden.

Key March Tasks

Plant Clematis—But Choose the Right Spot

Plant clematis now if you have a sunny location shielded from hot afternoon sun. Provide rich, well-drained soil and mulch to keep roots cool.

Create a Container Garden

Think beyond a single annual. Combine vegetables, herbs, foliage, succulents, and ornamentals for a mini garden with big impact.

Prune Fig Trees for Better Fruit

Remove all damaged wood, even if it means severe cutting. For optimal production, lime and fertilize: apply ½ lb of 15-5-5 fertilizer per 3 feet of tree height (e.g., 1 lb for a 6-foot tree). Spread at the drip line, water in, and mulch.

Tend Fruit Trees and Bushes

Fertilize blueberries lightly with azalea fertilizer; excess reduces yields. Maintain clean mulch around all fruit trees, keeping it away from trunks to deter voles and mice. Mulch conserves moisture, moderates soil temperature, and protects fallen fruit.

Cut Back Roses Strategically

Climbing roses: Remove one old cane to the ground yearly for 3–4 years to create a multi-height framework with more blooms.
Miniature roses: Remove dead, crowded, or diseased canes; shape remaining canes into a rounded form.
Hybrid teas & floribundas: Cut back to force new growth; remove damaged canes.
After pruning, refresh mulch and spray with lime-sulfur to combat overwintering pests and diseases.

Tidy Camellias to Prevent Petal Blight

Remove spent blooms—especially C. japonica—before they fall. If blight is suspected, bag and trash the flowers; do not compost.

Take Cuttings of Overwintered Annuals

Geraniums, begonias, coleus, and impatiens cut now will be ready for the garden by May.

Manage Early Pests

Leaf miners appear as swarms around hollies and evergreens. Spray dormant oil to smother eggs.
Voles become active in March. Keep mulch away from trunks. For holes in beds (especially near lilies), bait a mousetrap with apple and peanut butter and set it nearby.