Pruning, key to reviving gardens after heavy winter conditions
As the last few patches of snow melt away and the sun begins to peek out from behind the clouds, gardeners will be itching to discover how their plants weathered this year's aggressive winter.
Laura Dohney manages Hunter's Garden Centre and says that although the season lasted longer than usual, most plants in Vancouver gardens will recover even if their leaves look a bit sad.
"You're seeing a lot of blackened leaves, you're seeing a lot of plants that are losing leaves rapidly right now and that is completely due to the ice issues right now," says Dohney.
But those leaves damaged by frost and ice are not indications that the plant is dying, she says. Rather, they just need to be pruned to encourage new growth.
"Spring happens really fast here so it can get ahead of you but this year is actually a really good year to get in, give your garden a good heavy pruning."
Green under damaged leaves
As gardeners take a closer look at their plants, Dohney recommends looking beneath the browning on stems and leaves to spot the green areas that weren't affected by the cold.
"If I run my hand down the stem and I give it a little scrape, it's nice and green underneath and that tells me this plant has lots of life left in it. All of the little new buds that are on here are still going to come out.
"So, aesthetically it doesn't look very pleasing, but in the long run these shrubs are going to be absolutely fine. Don't panic."
Fans of perennials also need not worry about their yearly favourites returning. They'll just need some extra love and pruning, says Dohney, who tells gardeners to not be wary of trimming right down to the ground.
Those who were tempted by the last few seasons of mild weather and tried planting some subtropical items in their setting are unfortunately out of luck, she says.
"A lot of those, you'll just see them as a black mess in your garden."
Although the bloom of many plants was delayed this season, the milder weather is encouraging all the bulbs to pop out of the ground quickly.
"You are seeing a lot of the bulbs like crocuses and snow drops suddenly exploding. In the garden centre here we're actually seeing honey bees… so a lot of the local hives are already starting to move, which tells us the weather is coming up really quickly."
Cold soil not ready for replanting
Her advice going forward is to allow the soil time to warm up before pulling those gardening gloves back on.
"Even though the air temperature is feeling nice and warm, the soil temperature is still cold ... The soil is going to take at least another week to ten days to start to warm up to where we can get out and start doing some replanting."
In the meantime, she encourages people to get out and do some clean up around the garden to get ready for the growing season.
With files from the CBC's On The Coast
To hear the full interview listen to audio labelled Pruning, key to reviving gardens after heavy winter conditions