Spring Flowers

Early spring brings rain, mud, and more flowers. Look for these favorites.

Early Spring:

• Daffodil: The earliest Narcissi appear now, especially small cultivars like Tete-a-Tete.
• Iris Reticulata: The large iris are a summer pleasure, but this small beauty is an early spring treasure.
• Forsythia: This is a shrub that screams “Springtime!”
• Scilla: These small bulbs produce wonderful blue and purple blossoms.
• Anemone: The blanda species produces pale blue and white starry blossoms for the spring garden.
• Pussy Willow: Salix discolor and Salix caprea were standards in Grandmother’s garden, but new varieties have larger and more strongly-colored catkins to delight today’s gardeners.

Mid Spring:

• Daffodil: These are the glory of the mid-spring blossoms. Large, late varieties like King Alfred and Mount Hood are brilliant even on rainy days.
• Tulip: On everyone’s list of spring flowers, these are starting their long period of bloom in mid-spring.
• Rhododendron and azaleas: Both are just starting their springtime display.
• Muscari: Often planted with daffodils and tulips, they hug the ground beneath those taller flowers.
• Redbud trees: Their branches are outlined with wonderful pink blooms before their leaves appear.
• Dogwood trees: These are breathtaking in the spring garden.
• Magnolia Tree: The star magnolia, Magnolia stellata, is the first to bloom.
• Trillium: Just one of the many wildflowers that bloom before the large trees are fully leafed out.
• Ornamental forms of Cherry and Crabapple trees are beautiful in mid-spring.
• Hyacinths: These spring flowers bring scent as well as color to the spring garden.
• Primrose: Jewels in the spring garden, Primula veris (Cowslip) and Primula vulgare (Common primrose) are the best known, but you will find many varieties are available in garden centers.

Late Spring:

• Tulip: They will bloom all through spring. Full-blossomed forms like parrot tulips and peony tulips are usually the last to bloom.
• Magnolia Tree: Magnolia x soulangiana, the saucer magnolia, is a beautiful late spring bloomer.
• Lilac: These shrubs fill the late spring garden with scent and color.
• Spiraea: These shrubs are an old-fashioned favorite.
• Peonies: These shrubs carry the garden from late spring into summer.
• Allium: Somewhat prosaically called ‘flowering onion’, their bloom is spectacular.
• Wood Anemone: Always lovely in the wilderness garden.
• Jack in the Pulpit: This wildflower is a favorite in spring.

Source: www.garden.lovetoknow.com