Spring in the Garden – 2024 Edition

Greetings, Lakeway gardeners! Spring in a Lakeway garden is a beautiful and bountiful time. March, April and May are bustling with garden activity and the busiest time of year for local gardeners. This season will paint Lakeway with vivid and colorful blooms, but be patient and wait to transplant flowers until mid to late March to avoid any late winter frost. By late March, cheerful annuals such as poppies and cosmos can be planted outdoors. Late April and early May welcome heat-loving flower favorites like zinnias and sunflowers, plus warmer-temp vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and squash. This season, experiment in your garden with some new vibrant flowers and plant a few new tasty vegetables. Trying something new is the best way to re-energize our Texas spring gardens!

Best Bluebonnet Trail

Our winter rains have increased the chances of an exuberant wildflower show this spring. If you have never seen the famous fields of bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush and colorful native wildflowers on the scenic Willow City Loop (map) near Fredericksburg, put it on your ‘must-see’ list in March/April. Bursting with blues, reds, yellows and whites, this historic 13-mile road traverses hills and creeks, offering stunning views of flower filled meadows and valleys. To get there from Fredericksburg, head north on State Route 16 for approximately 13 miles to Willow City, go east on Ranch Road 1323 for nearly 3 miles, then turn left onto Willow City Loop.

Garden Tips, Local Events and More

Below we have many helpful garden tips for your Spring to-do list. You can also visit the Lakeway Garden Club for even more garden tips and tricks. Our Events Calendar showcases many local or online classes and special events happening this spring. And as always, happy gardening!

LGC Member News

Our next Member Mixer is only a few days away! Mark your calendar for our Spring Member Mixer next Thursday, March 7th! We will be talking about healthy gardening, growing roses and opportunities for volunteering in local garden projects. If you have a request for a future garden topic or a specific question, please let us know. All are welcome to join for free before the meeting if they are not already a member. See you at 10:30am on March 7th at the Lake Travis Community Library!

Gardening Month by Month

Below are some garden tips for March, April and May. Curious about the rest of the year? Visit our website to find all our garden tasks and tips arranged month by month. Happy gardening!

March Gardening

March is a bountiful time in the Lakeway garden. In my garden, the most anticipated moment is when asparagus stalks begin to poke through the dirt – then I know spring is almost here. As we head into warmer temperatures and leave the prospect of frost damage behind, remember to review the Vegetable Planting Calendar to plan your spring garden. It will show you all the ideal times to plant in order to maximize your garden bounty. You can download a printable PDF of the calendar to post by your garden or bring with you to your favorite plant nursery. Remember, the average last frost day for the Lakeway area is March 21 to April 10 so don’t prune or plant too much before then. See all the info on our website here.

April Gardening

Will April showers bring May flowers? Only time and a few heavy rainstorms will tell. April is a wonderful month to be in the Lakeway garden with your hands in the dirt. The danger of frost should have passed (although the average last frost day for the Lakeway area can range all the way to April 10th), but always be prepared in case of a surprise late freeze. April is the time of year that all warm season plants can be seeded or transplanted. It’s also the official start of regular lawn mowing and irrigation. Flowers, pollinators, hummingbirds, trees and many spring vegetables flourish this month too. The delicate purple wildflower with the strangest name, “Spiderwort” (Tradescantia ohiensis), is always glorious in my garden this time of year. See all the info on our website here.

May Gardening

The month of May can be an exuberant (and sometimes an exhausting) time in Lakeway. Flowers and spring vegetables continue to flourish this month. There is just so much to see and do in the garden! Roses are blooming, birds are singing and pollinators are buzzing with all the flowering excitement in our gardens. The humidity and severe storm chances are starting to rise, so an early morning garden work habit is key to staying cool. And remember to get out there and start weeding before they take over and make your yard work much, much harder! See all the info on our website here.