Take pictures. April can be a wonderland of bloom, so enjoy it! While walking the garden pulling weeds, testing hoses, and cleaning birdbaths and feeders, let yourself be distracted, and deeply observe what captures your wonder by taking pictures. Using those pictures for planning, artwork, or social media will inspire you and keep your gardening spirit high when it might be flagging by the end of summer.

Dig up and divide. Now is a great time to divide all except spring-blooming perennials. Mark for moving in late summer (or move now) any spring bulbs that have become swamped by other plants. Don’t remove green foliage; rather, wait until it turns brown on its own over the next couple of months.

Be patient. You are probably itching to get your trowel dirty, but hold off until the end of the month or the beginning of May for planting most annuals and vegetables. Satisfy the planting urge this month with perennials, warm-season grasses, summer bulbs, and shrubs first.

Prepare for the growing season. Feed and tuck in your perennial and shrub borders by applying compost and mulch during this sweet spot between winter weeds (you just pulled them!) and summer ones.

Paula Gross is the former Assistant Director of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Botanical Gardens.