19 Best Early Spring Flowers

19 Best Early Spring Flowers

Are you looking for flowers to add to your garden during the spring period? Well, early spring flowers are not only beautiful, but they also come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. That makes it more difficult to choose which type you like the most.

To make things easier for you, we decided to put together a list of some of the best early spring flowers currently available on today’s market. These spring-blooming flowers can turn your early spring garden into a beautiful scene. Let’s have a look.

1. Creeping Phlox

Also known as moss phlox, this eye-catching spring flower is easy to care for. It forms a colorful carpet of tiny flowers that often spills across the lawns and pours over rock walls. When this creeping variety bursts into bloom in March, it forms a cascading spread of little early blooming flowers, making it a great plant for rock gardens, slopes, and flower bed borders.


Image credit: https://www.thespruce.com/

Grow it in full sun to part shade and trim it back after it blooms. Also, ensure you manage weeds growing in your phlox early in the season so that your plants don’t compete with them.

2. Bloodroot

Bloodroot is a spring-flowering perennial with unassuming little flowers that form in flower clusters near the ground. This easy-to-grow plant forms rosettes of leaves and an 8″ tall flower stalk in early spring. The top of the main blooming stem has small, white blooms that open just when the leaves have unfurled.

Bloodroot 
Image credit: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/

It’s more of a ground cover than a bedding plant with white flowers that can easily brighten a shade and woodland garden. Unlike other ground covers, bloodroot isn’t invasive and aggressive. It does well in full sun to part shade and requires well drained and acidic soil.

Plus, it requires minimal maintenance, but ensure you keep it away from children and pets because it’s highly toxic. When you see these late summer blooming flowers, know that warmer weather is on the way.

3. Bleeding Heart

A bleeding heart is a plant that blooms in spring. It can be planted in flower beds, garden borders but also in containers. It adds a unique touch to the surroundings with its white flowers of dark green leaves.

Bleeding Heart
Image credit: https://www.gardendesign.com/

As the blooms fade, days lengthen, and the temperature warms, this plant goes dormant, and the feeding foliage disappears until next spring, which is the natural habit of spring ephemeral. But that shouldn’t stop you from adding this flowering plant to your garden.

Plant them near late-emerging plants that will fill in the void. The color varieties include pink, red, and white, and it does well in partial shade, moist, and well-drained soil. The blooms of the bleeding heart look like cheery little heart shaped charms dangling down the length of each branch.

4. Hellebore or Lenten Rose

Hellebore’s cup shaped blossoms are a welcome sight after a long winter. This Easter treat springs out of the ground as early as February in moderate winter climates. Its flowers range from white to pink to rosy purple, plus, these flowers last a few months.

Don’t worry if the snow arrives because these flowers can tolerate dusting. Plant them in groups under backyard trees and shrubs since they thrive in partial shade. It’s easy to grow and one of the first flowers to emerge in late winter and early spring.

5. Winter Heath

The Winter Heath blooms from late spring to early summer. Its purple-pink flowers may eventually age into yellow shades at the end of summer. It grows in 6 to 9-inch mounds and creates a dense ground cover over time. It prefers soil that’s acidic, well-drained, and it’s more tolerant than other heaths. It has urn-shaped flowers poking through the snow, which looks delightful. It will begin blooming in January and continue until spring arrives in March.

Winter Heath
Image credit: https://i.pinimg.com/

6. Winter Aconite

It is a perennial plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to western and central Europe, northwestern Africa, and southwest Asia. Its early flowers show it’s an ideal winter color for gardeners looking to capture the crisp feel of early spring. The Winter Aconite flowers from January until July, with its purple-pink flowers that are small but numerous.

It is a low-growing plant, making it ideal for filling large gaps in the garden due to its ground-covering properties. Winter aconite prefers free-draining soil, with lots of room for root growth, and if this isn’t possible, you will need to dig around the roots to increase their spread. It’s deer resistant and may even grow near black walnut trees.

7. Dutchman’s Breeches

This is a beautiful but short-lasting woodland wildflower that is gone by summer with its foliage. But a few weeks in the spring, the delicate flowers will be hanging off their arching stems and are pure delight.

8. Woodland Phlox

Woodland phlox is a North American native wildflower that thrives in the dappled shade of the forest. These spring bulbs begin to bloom in April with five-petal flowers stretching one and a half inches in diameter. Its green leaves are around two long. Make sure you keep the soil cool and retain soil moisture by mulching around the plant.

Woodland Phlox
Image credit: https://www.gardenia.net/

9. Flowering Quince

This is a rounded shrub that blooms from March to April. Its five-petaled flowers are about two inches in diameter and start to open even before the dark green leaves begin to unfurl. The speckled yellow-green fruits follow the flowers. They prefer full sun to part shade and loamy, well-draining soil. Prune after flowering to shape the plant.

10. Rock Cress

Plant rock cress in a sunny spot within rock gardens, and dainty white will cascade and spread up to 2 feet. This plant tolerates drought conditions. Give it a haircut after it has finished blooming to make it look tidy for the rest of the growing season. It has fragrant flowers that bloom from April to May to attract bees and other beneficial pollinators to your backyard.

Rock Cress
Image credit: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/

11. Grape Hyacinth

You can plant these tiny bulbs in the fall for spring blooms. They naturalize themselves so easily, so you can start with a few and end up with a whole swath of grape hyacinths.

12. Solomon’s Seal

Solomon’s Seal pops up from the ground in early spring with a rounded flower that resembles a fan. In its native habitat, Solomon’s Seal will grow back year after year to offer you continuous bloom throughout the growing season. If your environment is more urban, the plant may stop blooming in the summertime, or it can be propagated to give you more blooms.

Its arching stems and dangling flowers make it eye-catching in any shade garden as they are among the shade-loving flowers. After the plant blooms, the glossy black seed pods add visual appeal. And because it’s a short plant that flowers downward, it looks best in large swaths that can spread naturally in a garden bed. Ensure the soil remains evenly moist but not soggy for healthy plants.

13. Virginia Bluebells

With bell-shaped flowers, bluebells are possibly the most popular early spring flower.  The flowers don’t start blue; instead, they begin as pink buds and turn blue later. They have charming dangling clusters of tubular blue flowers.

The bluebell is another perennial spring ephemeral that goes dormant and disappears shortly after it flowers. Divide these spring bulbs between the late summer or early fall as necessary.

14. Corydalis

Also known as yellow corydalis, corydalis has bright yellow to green foliage. Its roots have a delicate sweet flavor and can be eaten in moderation, similar to ginseng. The plant is very easy to maintain and will return every year if the top growth is not removed before it goes dormant in the fall.

It has a long bloom period from spring to early fall, even the first frost date, with small but bright flowers with tubular petals. These spring bloomers can grow aggressively in cool spring weather with rich, moist soil.

15. Stewartstonian Azalea

This early spring flower features glossy, dark green leaves that turn reddish-brown in the fall. Their show-stopping feature is their showy clusters of bright-orange red flowers that bloom in April. Make sure you prune this perennial shrub after flowering to shape it as needed. Also, ensure it gets consistent moisture but does not sit in soggy soil.

16. Korean Spice Viburnum

This early spring flower is, in fact, a variety of flowering viburnum. Its white flowers are organized in rounded clusters and bloom in April to May, with red leaves in the fall season. The tiny fruits that follow later are considered edible for birds, squirrels, and other mammals.

They feature fragrant flowers that bloom in April and May. They also feature attractive mahogany- red leaves that turn beige with the onset of fall. Furthermore, they require little attention and can grow well in any soil type you offer them.

Soil needs include average, medium moisture, acidic to well-draining soil. It also prefers full sun to part shade. It’s fairly low-maintenance but ensures it has good drainage and is not over-watered as it doesn’t thrive in wet soil.

17. Siberian Bugloss

This is a great option for attracting pollinators to your garden. It also provides food for butterflies, birds, and other small mammals. It’s an early-blooming perennial that produces gorgeous flowers of purplish-blue color.

Siberian Bugloss
Image credit: https://www.thespruce.com/

The heart shaped leaves of Siberian often get more attention than its brilliant blue flowers. Furthermore, it can even grow in partial shade if it has enough sunlight during the day. Therefore, this flower adapts well to all kinds of environments, so it’s a great option to include in your low-maintenance garden.

18. Pigsqueak

Pigsqueak has large, bright yellow flowers that can be spotted from afar. It is a native plant, which grows easily in the wild, but it also does quite well in gardens as long as it finds enough sun and water. While it’s an early spring bloomer, the leaves can stay attractive all season and turn a nice bronze-red in the fall.

It spreads quickly via rhizomes but not quickly enough to become a nuisance. You can divide it every few years if it becomes overgrown. Sun exposure includes full to part shade and thrives in a soil that’s rich, moist, and well drained.

19. Pansies

This cool, loving plant looks great at home in the earliest spring days. These annual plants look great in border planting and window boxes. The plant comes in a few colors for variety and can be planted for fall color after other flowers have stopped blooming.

FAQs about Best Early Spring Flowers

What flowers bloom early in spring?

Snowdrops are the earliest of the spring-blooming bulbs. They poke out above the snow as early as January and February, even in the Northeast and Midwest.

How do I get early spring flowers?

The best place to buy spring-flowering bulbs is at your local garden center or hardware store around Halloween or the end of the fall season. Bulbs are planted in the fall and bloom in the spring.

Final Thought about Best Early Spring Flowers

As you can see, there are several types of early spring bloomers. Make sure you plant them in the fall before the ground freezes since some annuals can take frost. But for those that are not tough, plant them after the last expected frost date in your area and enjoy the blooming spring season.

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