Start preparing for spring — if the ground’s not too squishy | The Compleat Home Gardener

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, February 25, 2026

The last week of February means you can get started on some spring garden projects and celebrate the almost end of winter.

If your ground is not soggy wet you can rake, then mow the lawn and if you really want to be ambitious you can trim and edge the lawn borders. Your lawn will look so tidy that you will be inspired to pull weeds, smother weeds and mulch on top of small weeds.

Head to a nursery because this is the time to buy and plant berries, shrubs, trees, roses and perennials. Remove dead and brown foliage from hostas and other perennials.

It is still a good time to prune roses, ornamental grasses and lavender.

Q. We have a new house with some old roses. Not sure what kind. Should I prune them? When should I fertilize them? ShN.H., Puyallup

A. Congrats on your new garden and enjoy the first year in your new place just obderving what pops up. Your roses will most likely benefit from a trim this time of year and the easy way to do this is simply cut back

canes by one third and remove and dead, diseased or damaged branches. Roses appreciate being fertilized in early spring, in late spring and in mid summer so add that to your new garden schedule and I promise you a rose garden that will surprise you.

Q. Tell me the name of the rhododendron that flowers in February? I think it is purple and we had one years ago. I have added hellebores to my garden as you suggested and now want to create more early spring color. P.G., Olympia

A. Yeah! So proud that you have discovered the joys of hellebores and late winter blooms. The rhododendron that would make a good bed mate for your hellebore collection would be the PJM rhododendron. This compact variety grows to five feet and has small but very dark leaves that contrast with the early purple blooms. This durable variety of rhododendron is very heat and cold tolerant and easy to find at local nurseries. You might want to consider adding a bright yellow forsythia as a back drop for the rhododendron. Then you’ll have a late winter pocket garden with a background shrub with the forsythia, the purple PJM rhodie and heavenly hellebores in the petticoat zone I the front of the bed. A beautiful plant marriage indeed.

Q. Can I plant dahlias now? What about lettuce seeds? V., Email

A. No and no. It is too early in the season to put tender bulbs such as dahlias, cannas and gladiolas into our wet Western Washington soil. Even if we don’t get a hard frost the dampness will rot them. The same for growing lettuce and many other plants from seed outdoors. The beginning of May when the nights are warmer is a better time for planting seeds into the ground and dahlias into your garden.

Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For answers to gardening questions, visit plantersplace.com and click “As The Expert”. Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti. For more gardening information, she can be reached at her website, www.binettigarden.com.