What to plant in March

Four to plant in March

Everything here goes in this month and flowers this year. Two start under cover, two go straight out.

• 
  Statement

  Dahlia 'Café au Lait'

  Dahlia hybrid

  Start tubers in pots under cover now, barely covered and barely watered until shoots appear. Six weeks of head start turns a September flowerer into a July one.

• 
  Scent

  Lily 'Regale'

  Lilium regale

  Plant bulbs deep — three times their own height — in pots or the border. The scent on a still July evening is almost too much, which is exactly the point.

• 
  Foolproof

  Calendula 'Indian Prince'

  Calendula officinalis

  Sow direct where you want it. Burnt-orange with a dark reverse, it flowers for months, self-seeds politely, and hoverflies use it as a base for eating your aphids.

• 
  Scent

  Sweet pea 'Cupani'

  Lathyrus odoratus

  Autumn- or February-sown plants go out now against a wigwam. Harden them off for a week first — a sudden move from windowsill to open garden checks them badly.

Garden ideas to nick this month

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  Two inches, over damp soil

  Mulch before the weeds wake

  Spread compost or bark thickly while the ground is wet and the annual weeds are still dormant. Do it now and you'll weed a fraction as much all summer; do it in May and you're just burying the problem.

• 

  Insurance, not extra work

  Sow twice, three weeks apart

  Split every packet in half. If a cold snap or the slugs take the first sowing you've lost nothing, and if both survive you get a longer season from the same seed.

A garden to visit

The Savill Garden, Windsor Great Park

Magnolias against a grey sky

March here is a fortnight of nerve — enormous magnolia goblets opening in full knowledge that one hard frost will brown the lot. When it holds, there's nothing better in an English garden.