Jenny wrote:

1. Dahlias (regular and the spiny type). I potted up last year's which I
stored in peat in the basement to see if I could give them a head start
(and figure out if they are still alive.) I am wondering if I should pot
up the new ones to give them a head start, too. I was told I can't plant
these until no frost and last year mine seemed to take forever to grow
from roots and they flowered later than everyone else's I saw on my
walks, though they did eventually have pretty flowers. Should I pot the
new ones to get a head start or just wait until it's warmer?

Pot them. You could get some of those brown pots (usually called peat
pots, but I see them with all sorts of names) that will go away in the
soil over time and just plant pot and all when there is no danger of
frost. I saw some here at either Wal-Mart or Lowe's the other day
that were plenty big to start dahlias in. If you wait until after
frost and plant them out in the garden, it will just be that much
longer before you have flowers.

2. Lily of the Valley - I've got a lot of woodsy shade that won't grow
much under some oaks. I read online that they probably won't flower
this year.

I have no idea. One of the common garden plants that I have never
tried. I see them every year and think about buying some but I know
they will be everywhere the next year too and I keep saying "nah, get
this more unique plant first." And so I never buy them.

bag. From reading about them online, it sounds like maybe I should grow
them in big containers on my deck this summer and plant them in
September.

I wouldn't plant clematis out until there is no chance of frost.
Actually for young plants, your deck probably would be a great place
to get them started since it sounds like it does not have really
intense sun. Clematis like mulch to keep the roots cool and it is a
litter harder to keep them happy in pots than in the ground if they
are in the hot sun. I bought some clematis last year and just planted
them out, little plants that I picked up in bags at Wal-Mart. They
both had new growth and looked pretty happy. They both died. This
year I bought a couple but planted them in pots. I will let them grow
for a few weeks and then plant them outside.

Also, what about planting dianthus? I found some for sale next to the
pansies and wondered if this means I can put them in the ground now.

If they are the perennial type, yeah. If they are the annuals I would
wait until it stops freezing to even buy any.

The fact that they were next to pansies means little, unfortunately.

I saw all sorts of cold sensitive plants at Lowe's and Wal-Mart two
weeks ago and we had a 28 degree night after that. Things like
peppers and tomatoes - even if they were not killed the peppers would
never recover to be the plants they would have been without the
freeze.

You have to be wary both of buying plants too early in spring and
buying shrubs, trees and perennials that are not really hardy in your
area. I have seen a lot of plants hardy to zone 8 and even 9 sold
here in 6b as perennials, even though most of them would not survive
even a mild winter here. Often they will have tags on them that will
say how cold hardy they really are, which amuses me to no end. I
guess nobody bothers to take their dead plants back to Lowe's because
I see all sorts of plants every year being sold as perennials with
that one-year guarantee that I KNOW will not survive the winter.

I learned an amazing amount about gardening here last year and am really
excited about what I'm going to be able to do this year.

It gets more fun every year that you do it. Of course if you are like
some of us, it becomes more and more work every year too, but the
payoff is usually worth it.

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