In this area of North Carolina, we never know exactly when spring is going to get here. Officially, it’s either march 20 or 21, when we have exactly 12 hours of light and darkness.

Since spring is not here yet, your winter garden is still a good source of color and might need some work. Be sure to clean up your edging so you can get mulch in there when spring arrives.

One of the prettiest plants in the garden this time of year is the lenten rose. Don’t remove the flowers -- you’ll want it to go to seed -- but some others will need to be taken care of a bit.

The foliage on winter blooming iris might be cold damaged so remove spent blooms. That’s called deadheading. It’s done so no seed pod is formed.

It’s not necessary to remove all blooms but it does give better production for the rest of the season.