Spring is finally upon us home gardeners, and we are itching to plant something. With the heavy snows and frigid temperatures our yards have endured, 2014 could be the year for changes in the landscape.Succession of Bloom in the Perennial Garden manual, published in 2005 and in its second printing, tracks the bloom time and recommended care of just about every blooming bulb, perennial, and flowering shrub that can grow in the state.

Before you buy the first pretty potted plant you see and then try to figure out where it goes in the yard, take the time to think about sun, shade, soil, and water, as well as blooms and color, says Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, owner of Natureworks in Northford. Her

"Most plant guides are written for the whole country, so I wrote this to track exactly when things start and stop blooming in Connecticut," says DuBrule-Clemente, a respected expert and popular speaker at garden conferences. She sells the book in her garden center and often at conferences.

Connecticut gardeners could be a bit confused these days, and with good reason. After the USDA plant hardiness zone maps shifted most of the state into warmer zones a few years back, many bravely planted crepe myrtle, hardy camellias, and other southern beauties.

"Cold doesn't bother hardy plants," says DuBrule-Clemente, "but when you go below the low temperature from your zone, you'll get damage on the marginal plants we all tried because we were told our zones had shifted."

It might be time to replace and reposition tall brittle shrubs and foundation plants that didn't survive ice dams or piles of shoveled roof snow with more wispy, deciduous shrubs that benefit from spring pruning. Don't be surprised if a favorite butterfly bush dies back to the ground, either, she says. Give it a good pruning and it should leaf back out.

The secret to season-long color and interest in the garden is to plant multiple varieties of a favorite plant, DuBrule-Clemente says.

"If it's a happy camper in your garden, the deer and voles won't eat it, it thrives in your soil, then you can extend bloom season from July through October by planting multiple varieties," she says.

Gardeners can find multiple varieties of native perennials to extend the season. There are green and red-leafed varieties of Cimicifuga, commonly called bugbane or cohosh, which put out whorls of feathery foliage in the spring, followed by tall spires or racemes of flowers from July through October. Look for multiple varieties of Rudbeckia or black-eyed Susans, and asters, a New England favorite, too.

If you like daffodils, plan to plant a variety of early, mid-, and late-season bulbs next fall. Meanwhile, this spring, pop some perennials and annuals among the bulbs for variety.

"Everybody likes to see daffodils in spring," says Sharon Harris of Acer Gardens in Deep River, which she and husband Bill started in 1984. "If you want to attract hummingbirds in the spring plant some pulmonaria, or lungwort, among your daffodils. Pulmonaria will draw the hummingbirds into your garden."

You can't go wrong with spring pansies in Connecticut. Sharon suggests Osteospermum or African daisies, which come in a variety of pastel shades, and Diascia and Nemesia, two relatives of the snapdragon that put forth showy little flowers and don't mind cool temperatures. Don't despair if these colorful early bloomers wimp out in summer heat. Keep the plants trimmed and watered and they should come back with a fall show—up until frost.

"We live and breathe plants," says Sharon, who met Bill when they were both UConn students. Although Bill studied soils and she started out in landscape design, both knew they wanted to own and run a landscape nursery where they could grow as many of the plants as possible to show customers what the mature trees, shrubs, and perennials would look like and how they would do in the region's climate and conditions.

There's a hydrangea area to which Sharon continually adds new cultivars to, so customers can see the difference between the paniculatas and reblooming macrophyllas.

The gardens also have unusual evergreen trees and shrubs that are deer resistant. This includes some species from Japan: Cryptomeria japonica, commonly called Japanese cedar or sugi, the national tree of Japan where it is often planted at temples and shrines. Thujopsis, or Elkhorn Cedar, which looks like an arborvitae, has extremely dense branching habit and is expected to get 35 to 40 feet tall. Cephalotaxus, called plum yew, is an evergreen conifer that grows in full shade.

Meandering stretches of these and other specimen plants are planted around the greenhouses and the perimeter of the nursery, giving customers the chance to see how a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and perennials will perform and look in the ground, and in their own gardens.

If you're looking to stump and impress the neighbors with an azalea that blooms at the same time as forsythia, the harbinger of spring, look for Rhododendron mucronulatum, which has lavender flowers and the 'Cornell Pink,' cultivar. Both are deer-resistant.

The Harris family encourages shoppers to bring photos and measurements of their yard spaces to help with plant selection.

Grove Garden Center in Clinton, which has been a shoreline presence since the 1950s, has geared up to help home owners and their yards finally come out this spring.

"April is going to be the big spring gardening month for most folks this year," says Bob Jacobson, who has owned Grove Garden since 2008 and worked for the original owner Tom Gladwin, before that.

"March just hung onto the cold temperatures."

Don't be surprised if your rhododendrons and boxwoods— broadleaf evergreens—show signs of leaf burn from the extreme cold temperatures, says Jacobson. While spruce and pines have probably weathered the winter, the broadleaf varieties will benefit from some extra attention.

"Pruning will help initiate new, better growth," he says, "and fertilizing will push the new growth in the spring." The garden center, which stays open year-round and kicks into seven-day weeks in early April, sources its plants from Connecticut, New England, and Long Island.

"You get a sturdier plant because it's used to our climate," Jacobson says.

For rose color all summer long with low maintenance, he recommends multiple shades of Knockout Roses, from the first-introduced red which is still the most popular, to blushing pink shades and Sunny Knockout, a yellow color.

With perennials popping in the garden, Jacobson also reminds gardeners that it's time to step of deer defenses. His personal favorite deer deterrent, which he successfully uses around his hostas and tulips along the shoreline, is Milorganite, a biosolids fertilizer (the pathogens have been destroyed by the manufacturing process) produced by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.

"That's a really good product to keep the deer away. You need to train them in the spring and fall to stay out of the area," he says. "It's very successful in my yard."

Edible Landscaping: 2014 is the year of Flowers and Food

It's more than a trend or a fad—gardening for food is definitely here to stay in American home gardens.

“Everybody's talking about herbs and food,” says DuBrule-Clemente, who sold out of seeds at garden conferences past this winter. “I firmly believe it is entrenched in our consciousness to grow food.”

Edible landscaping has been a growing trend for a few years, so there are more approaches and choices of tools and equipment, from containers and grow bags to raised beds and inter-planting of edibles and ornamentals in the front or back yard.

Whether you're a gardening novice or looking for new plants to try, here's DuBrule-Clemente's short list:

• Start with nasturtiums, with edible flowers and leaves, the annuals are happier in semi-neglected areas as long as soil drainage is good. Can be started from seed or transplants.

• Deer don't eat aromatic herbs, so use rosemary, sage and fennel other pungent herbs in borders and beds, and enjoy them for color, texture and structure, as well as in the kitchen.

• Put in an asparagus bed. “I don't see why everyone doesn't have an asparagus patch, the spears are edible in the spring for six weeks and then they grow up into wispy six-foot ferns,” DuBrule-Clemente says. “You can put them anywhere in the yard where you need a fluffy, ferny border, in between shrubs, behind a rose bush.”

• Grow berries, especially in containers. Look for Brazelberries, a collection of blueberries and raspberries developed by the Brazelton family of Fall Creek Farm & Nursery, Inc., in Oregon, for container gardening.

• Plant a couple of native elderberries. “I love elderberries,” says DuBrule, who makes a refreshing water from the elderberry flowers and swears by elderberry juice as a sore throat tonic. “They are one of the best native plants, they are pretty, and the pollinators love them. These should be planted more.”

• Looking for a unique crop? Try growing ground cherries. A member of the Solanaceae or night shade family and native to the Eastern United States, Physalis heterophylla produces fruits that look like tomatillos, but are sweet and tasty.

DuBrule-Clemente's goal for 2014 is to marry flowers and food in the home garden, to the benefit of pollinating insects and birds, as well as people.

“A lot of people just plant food crops and they don't plant flowers. But by attracting pollinators, the flowers also are attracting the beneficial insects that eat the bad bugs, as well as attracting honeybees,” she says.