Spring has sprung and that means spring cleaning.

Sam Geleynse, owner of Vita Nova Landscape in 琉璃神社, said it鈥檚 the perfect time to take spring cleaning outside.

鈥淩ight now is a huge opportunity before the shrubs and trees break out into leaf. You鈥檝e got a bit of a window here where you can be more aggressive with your pruning, so it鈥檚 a good chance to get shrubs that have maybe grown out of control over the years back under control.鈥�

Geleynse said it鈥檚 important to get the old leaves off your lawn so it can start to dry out from the winter.

If you want a luscious lawn, the landscaping expert said there are two key things to do, aeration and detatching. Aeration allows moisture to get down to the roots of the grass, while dethatching removes winter build-up and promotes new growth.

Geleynse said he鈥檚 keeping a close eye on drought conditions, noting the Okanagan has had a number of very dry years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e actually about three years into some pretty significant drought, it鈥檚 been a recurring thing,鈥� he said. 鈥淩ight now, we鈥檝e got a lower-than-normal snowpack which doesn鈥檛 bode well for the extra moisture we typically get down here during the spring melts.鈥�

Geleynse commented that the consistent drought along with the cold snap seen in January is going to pose a challenge for crops, specifying lavender and roses as two plants that are more susceptible to the weather.

Despite the dry weather, there are a number of plants that will still thrive in your garden.

鈥淭he more that we can move in the direction of having stuff that is drought tolerant or low water usage the better the chance it has of surviving our climate, which seems to be getting drier all the time.鈥�

Geleynse made a point of saying that drought-tolerant doesn鈥檛 have to mean boring. He said there are lots of plants that are full of colour and don鈥檛 require nearly as much water as others, and even edible varieties that can delight the taste buds.

offers a large plant database in which Geleynse said one can find all the ins and outs they need to grow plants in the valley.

Landscaping for the first time and not sure where to start?

Geleynse鈥檚 advice is to start with cleaning up your outdoor space and remove all the dead branches and leaves to give yourself a fresh canvas.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a really unique opportunity here in the Okanagan. I think we鈥檝e got just about the longest landscape season we have anywhere in Canada, except for maybe down by the coast.鈥� Geleynse said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e really fortunate to have a long growing season, we have a warm climate overall, and so we鈥檝e really got a unique opportunity to create some absolutely stunning outdoor spaces. My encouragement to everybody is to not only go out there and get their hands dirty and try to do something in their space themselves, there鈥檚 a lot that can be done and it doesn鈥檛 have to be complicated, it doesn鈥檛 have to be some kind of crazy tens of thousands of dollars project, it can be something like little changes in your yard that make it come back to life.鈥�

READ MORE: Wildfire Preparedness Open House for Peachland property owners