Spring Flowering Perennials

These perennials bloom during the early growing season and are a welcome sight after a long-cold winter. Mix these spring flowering perennials in with your summer and fall-blooming flowers for a show of sequential blooms all gardening season.

spring flowering perennial Purple Bergenia a.k.a pigsqueak with cluster of purple flowers. — Bergenia a.k.a Pigsqueak

Bloom time is April and May. This plant is called Pigsqueak because if you rub two leaves together it makes a squeaking sound.
Bergenia love shade or dappled sunlight and a great alternative to the hosta.

spring flowering perennial Pink heart-shaped flowers hanging from outstretched stem of a bleeding heart perennial plant. — Bleeding Heart

These hearts bloom mid-May to June. Heart-shaped pink flowers that dangle from outstretched stems.
Cool-moist areas are best with morning sun.

spring flowering perennial, ajuga, with pikes of purplish-blue small flowers — Ajuga a.k.a Bugleweed.

These flowers bloom early May through June. It’s an aggressive spreading ground cover that helps choke out weeds.
Commonly used for hard-to-grow shady area, erosion control or under Black Walnut trees since it’s resistant to Juglone.

close up of a red bloom of the spring flowering perennial, fernleaf peony, — Fernleaf Peony

Deep red large flowers grow on fine-textured fern-like foliage that grows in a 1′-2′ foot mound.
Provide 6 hrs of sun and they will bloom in late-spring. May need stem support to prevent drooping.

Pink purple small flower blanketing over green foliage of a forget-me-not perennial. — Forget-Me-Not

They start blooming in May and can re-bloom later in the season.
Pink or blue flowers of Forget-Me-Not create a blanket of small flowers over a short 5 inch to 12 inch plant.
Used as a ground-cover in landscapes, this perennial is biennial and reseeds itself. Deadhead blooms to prevent re-seeding if you want to inhibit spreading.

Yellow daily like flowers shoot up over glossy leaf of a squaw weed. — Squaw Weed a.k.a Round-Leaved Ragwort

Blooms late-spring to early-summer. Excellent ground cover with sea of long-lasting yellow flowers. Will
flower in full sun to part shade and spreads slowly and easy to contain.

Blue and pink columbine flowers mixed together in the morning sun. — Columbine

Blooms mid-spring. Blue, pink, or purple bell-shaped flowers great for part shade and woodland areas. Native Columbine
has smaller red and yellow flowers that tend to have slightly more nodding in the flowers.

White flowers of sweet woodruff plant bloom above umbrella shaped leaves. — Sweet Woodruff

Forms thick mats of foliage with small white flowers blooms April and May. Best grown in moist, shady areas.
Can handle dry shade but won’t grow as prolific.

yellow and orange poppy flowers. — Poppy

Poppies can bloom in cooler weather April through June. A shorter lived plant that easily reseeds itself for year-after-year blooms.
These delicate flowers love growing in full-sun.

Geum

This is a member of the rose family that loves full morning sun and afternoon shade.
Mid-spring flowers perch atop fuzzy stems. Long-blooming flowers that butterflies adore!
Dead-head old flowers to push more blooms.

Bright yellow bracts surrounding tiny yellow flowers of a cushion spurge plant. — Cushion Spurge

The tiny yellows flowers are insignificant but the bright yellow bracts surrounding the blooms
is what makes this cushion-shaped plant a lovely spring perennial. The leaves will also turn orange in the fall.
Grow in full sun to avoid legginess. As part of the Eupohorbia family, it can handle drought once established.

We hope you have found a perennial that caught your eye! Look for the perennials above in our nursery as well these other spring flowering perennials, listed below, when you are adding to your landscape this season.

Pasque Flower
Hellebores
Foam Flower
Lupine
Brunnera
Geranium

If you are looking for more perennials to add to your garden, especially ones that can handle drought, give Top 8 Tough as Nails Perennials a read!

Landscape Shrubs for Autumn Color

Discover beautiful fall shrubs for your garden now! We can help you choose plants with amazing autumn colors. Don’t wait, add these shrubs and keep the colors going all the way to the snowfall!

Tiger Eyes® Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac

This sumac grows about 6′ wide and 6′ tall and the foliage is beautiful all season long! The brilliant chartreuse green foliage is in the summer giving way to the fall when it’s leaves turns orange, yellow, and scarlet color. This plant definitely has an oriental look to it! It’s drought resistant, can take full sun, and is a zone 4 so it will survive the winters here!

Photos: Courtesy of Bailey Nursery

Orange Rocket Barberry (Really any barberry!

orange foliage of a barberry shrub — Barberry – The foliage of these shrubs are lovely! Orange, red, lime green, yellow, and purple leaf colors.

We wanted to add this shrub because it provides color from spring through fall. The new leaves come out coral orange, turn green, and then a bright red in the fall, always adding warmth and a pop of brightness to your landscape. It grows 4′-5′ tall and 2′-3′ wide and likes full to partial sun. Tolerant of most soils other than slow draining/wet areas. Can take drought conditions once established and great can tolerate road salts and pollution well. Most barberries have wonderful fall color transitions so check out barberry as a great barrier plant in your contemporary or rustic garden.

Bailey Red Twigged Dogwood

This one we are also focusing further than the fall season. We don’t want to take away from the adorable white berries that adorn the plant in late summer but sometimes it’s what’s within that gives the real beauty. The dropping of its dramatic red and orange foliage in fall reveals bright red twigs that stand upright against the mostly colorless landscape. They can get fairly big at 9′ tall and 5′ wide. It’s great for mass planting, in wetter areas, and its roots work well to create an embankment for erosion control. Plant in full to partial sun and hopefully somewhere you see often in the winter! Really easy care and cutting back old stems in the spring will give you the best color on new growth.

bailey red twigged dogwood in the winter

Winter photo: Courtesy of Monrovia

Spirea

Spirea is a spring/summer flowering shrub that works well for your border plantings and provides spring blossoms as well as great fall foliage. Some spirea varieties can also bloom spring and fall. Two Spirea came to mind when thinking of fall color. Magic Carpet Spirea (See image on the right ) that turns a rich russet red in the fall after its summer season mature bright gold foliage or the Tor Birchleaf Spirea that turns gold, red, and purple in the fall. The Tor Birchleaf grows in compacted mounds and is deer-resistant, fragrant, and attracts butterflies. The Magic Carpet grows full and bushy, is an early bloomer, and has the brightest colors in full sun. Planting them en masse and pairing them with other perennials would create a more dramatic effect on your landscape. Ask us about which varieties can be pruned after first flowering to try for continued blooming into fall.

Left photo: Courtesy of Behnkes

There are many plants, other than shrubs, that can provide you with extended seasonal color and eye appeal in your landscape or garden. The garden is an evolving thing so when you have time to take tabs on when plants are blooming or changing color, why not add more plants for fall interest?