Swollen buds were spotted on a roadside maple tree this week, indicating — even as a mid-March snowfall was in progress — that spring isn’t far away.

Spring’s warming temperatures and the increasing length of days cue woody plants and perennials out of dormancy. When we first see the buds of maples and lilacs start to bulge, we know the world is about to be reborn.

Breaking the dormancy of winter is different, from year to year. Spring comes relatively slowly in some years, and in others, holds true to its name, coming about in what seems like overnight.

In our climate, plants slip into dormancy to survive the rugged winters. Fundamentally, dormancy is a coping mechanism for plants to skirt the difficulties — the impossibilities, even — of winter’s cold. In fall, plants are cued into dormancy by the decreasing temperatures and the decreasing day length.

Perennial plants — both herbaceous and woody — in fall transport the food and energy in their leaves to their roots, stockpiling the supply of energy until spring. In spring, the environment signals growth regulators within the plant system, and starts the flow of energy from the roots to the shoots, and the plant appears to us to come back to life.

To us, dormancy is a state of rest in plants. To plants, dormancy is really a state of arrested development. Even during the growing season, plants can slip into dormancy temporarily to overcome difficulties they may encounter. Dormancy can occur in buds, in storage organs (rhizomes, bulbs and corms) and in root systems. The arrested state of development can occur to help plants overcome unusual cold, drought or infertile conditions, for example.

Many gardeners noticed that their perennials and shrubs slipped out of dormancy during the warm spell in early winter, breaking buds just before a harsh, killing cold snap. The question we are asking ourselves is what the effect of warm weather in late fall, an overall mild winter and an unusually warm February will have on their garden perennials, trees and shrubs. There are no easy answers.

Time will tell if individual plants will overcome the unusual treatment they received from Mother Nature. New leaf buds of lilacs may form to replace those that broke their dormancy in early winter. The leaves that emerged were desiccated by winter’s cold. New shoots may arise from the crown of the showy stonecrop sedum. Shoot buds emerged in November, after dormancy was broken. Those buds presently rest at ground level, again, desiccated.

Spring inherently symbolizes hope, and as gardeners, by design we are hopeful. Be hopeful that spring will burst forth and repair most of the damage that our unusually warm, bare winter may have caused. Have hope in knowing that the same nature that can render destruction always replaces death with new life, and in our garden, that surely will be true, come spring.

Your questions

Q: What flowers should I use for an old-fashioned cottage garden? I’ve already started a garden bed alongside my garage with some hollyhocks in the background. What are some plants I could use to get that cottage garden effect with lots of plants of different heights? I want to use plants that have a lot of fragrance. Oh, and attracting hummingbirds would be nice, too! J.C., Bangor

A: A listing of background plants for the cottage garden might include: delphinium, cleome, garden phlox, cosmos, mullein, bell flower, great lobelia and rose. Midground plants would include: zinnia, coneflower, cornflower, monkshood, love-lies-bleeding, bee-balm, nicotiana, alkanet, aster, yarrow, rudebeckia, coreopsis, foxglove and pentstemon. Foreground plants might include: petunia, alpine asters, allysum, columbine, snapdragon and dianthus.

Since your garden is up against a building, consider adding some vining plants, such as trumpet creeper, sweet peas, morning glory, hops or climbing roses. Nearly all of these plants are effective at inviting bees and birds to your garden.

Q: I have a small area outside my backdoor that I’d like to plant a ground cover over. The area doesn’t receive too much sun. M.J., Hampden

A: Be creative in looking for plants to function as a ground cover. Remember that you’re not limited to low-growing plants. Look at woody and herbaceous plant options, and select from a wide range of color, texture, fragrance and form.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, c/o Maine Weekend, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.