This month in your Raleigh backyard: start summer veggies, practice patience and plant impatiens for months of color
by Helen Yoest
We usually welcome our last day of frost in April, which is a celebration for many gardeners. While I enjoy my garden in every season, this is an especially beautiful time of colorful renewal in my yard. Here’s what I’m tackling this month.
Wait Out the Last Frost
Watch the weather closely for our area’s last frost, which is usually around April 15th. Until then, don’t move porch plants back outside — even if you get a sunny spring day! If you need a little color while you wait, plant early-spring bloomers like Virginia bluebells, columbine and trilliums, which will offer dainty, delightful hues of pink, white and blue all spring. Shop for them now in one-gallon pots at local garden centers. (Did you know our native columbine welcomes spring? Its bloom cycle is said to coincide with the arrival of the first migrating male Ruby-Throated hummingbirds looking for nectar after their long journey north.)
Plant Impatiens
Potted impatiens are a Southern favorite for their continuous summer blooms. The most classic of these flowers are the small, shrub-like Old-fashioned variety (impatiens walleriana), which work best in moist shade or partial sun and come in a rainbow of deep purples, reds, pinks and oranges. But newer varieties can give you more flexibility: SunPatiens, for example, are a hybrid that can thrive in hot, morning sun conditions, while New Guinea Impatiens are shade lovers with larger flowers. Try planting them in your favorite patio pots, hanging baskets or window planters after that last frost for months of color.
Start Your Veggies!
Once the frost passes, it’s finally safe to sow seeds of carrots, beets, pole and bush beans, carrots, corn, kale and radishes. Other spring veggies, like broccoli and Swiss chard, perform better as transplants, so if you didn’t start them from seed indoors last month, you’ll find packs of baby plants widely available for sale.
This article originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.
