Unexpected Spring Bloomers
Unexpected Spring Bloomers
Feeling a little ho-hum about spring? Tired of seeing the same spring display in garden after garden? If you want to shake things up beyond the usual tulips-daffodils-pansies combinations, why not give some of our native perennials a try? Let’s go on the path less traveled and show ‘em there’s a new way to do the season.
Spring is just around the corner and now is a great time to try the unexpected. If you need inspiration, we love visiting our neighbors at Longwood Gardens, Winterthur, Chanticleer, and Mt. Cuba Center. All 4 public gardens have wonderful spring displays that utilize native plants in extraordinary ways. Let’s get excited for spring! Here are thirteen fresh native perennials just in time for spring planting.
In Shade
Blue Violet
With silver-green foliage and amethyst flowers, Viola walteri ‘Silver Gem’ is a diminutive groundcover that starts blooming as early as late March and continues blooming into October. It’s the longest blooming perennial in our catalog and we find it’s perfect at the base of trees and shrubs or along the edge of a garden bed.
Foamflower
Coral bells usually get all the fanfare, but have you tried foamflower? The deeply lobed foliage emerges with stripes of burgundy along the leaf midrib in spring. In April into May, panicles of soft pink flowers display prominently. There’s nothing like the large swaths of Tiarella cordifolia planted in Pierce’s Woods at Longwood Gardens, truly stunning when in bloom. As if that wasn’t enough, foamflowers have brilliant fall color, giving them multiple seasons of beauty.
Jacob's ladder
Soft creamy margins contrast against lively green foliage on this naturally-occurring native Polemonium reptans ‘Stairway to Heaven’ found by Bill Cullina of The New England Wildflower Society. The nodding bells of pale blue flowers arrive in late spring. The variegated foliage offers a different dimension in part-shade gardens and is a great companion offering texture contrast to Carex, Heuchera, and Phlox.
Woodland Phlox
Delicate five-petaled flowers in pinks, blues, and whites dance gently above low-growing foliage when it flowers in mid spring. Woodland phlox creeps and dances in and around other shade perennials, knitting together the woodland garden. Lovely when sprinkled through a planting, its flowers produce a cloud-like effect emitting a soft fragrance.
Coralbells
In shades ranging from rich greens to deep purple to silver to chartreuse to peach, there is a color of Heuchera that will go with your landscape. Mix foliage colors together or plant large masses of each, there’s no wrong way to do it! We love a matrix of coralbells with sedges, two easy going plants that are even better together. Dainty panicles of white to pink flowers arrive as heralds to spring, just in time.
In Sun
Blue-eyed grass
Imagine sweeps of sweet, short tufts of cool, green grass-like foliage topped with fine blue flowers with yellow throated centers along roadsides. It’s quite a sight! Capture that feeling of azure skies and wildflowers in the garden by planting drifts of this sweet durable little native, perfect for edging garden paths, in clumps to contrast daffodils, or in a matrix with sedges and warm season grasses. Sisyrinchium flowers are a hard to find color in nature and are striking when contrasted with yellow-flowering plants blooming at the same time.
Lyreleafe sage
One cannot wax poetic about blue-eyed grass and then skip its natural pair, lyreleaf sage! Found in the same habitats and blooming at the same time in the wild as Sisryinchium, this Salvia has low-growing deep maroon foliage that sets off the lilac flower panicle to perfection. Lyreleaf sage is a wonderful groundcover with persistent evergreen clumping basal foliage. Overlooked and underappreciated, Salvia lyrata stops people in their tracks when long roadsides are in full bloom as you follow the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Park. Give this beauty a chance!
Wild pinks
Love the look of woodland phlox but have a sunny, dry location? Or do you enjoy the flowers of Dianthus but wish it supported our native pollinators? Enter the unexpected wild pinks, Silene caroliniana var. wherryi 'Short and Sweet'. Covered in bright pink flowers for weeks in spring, this low-growing catchfly is easy to grow, reliable in the garden, and very adaptable. Not many folks know about this native spring flower, and we think that’s a shame. Join us in spreading the good word and try out this little beauty!
Blueflag
Swords of upright, vivid green foliage erupts from the ground, tinged with streaks of purple in spring. The flowers range from shades of periwinkle to eggplant but no matter how you slice it, this native wetland Iris is a stunner! Plant it at the edge of ponds or in the garden, blueflag is adaptable to a variety of garden conditions. Hummingbirds love to visit in spring as do oodles of native bees make it a popular favorite with our winged friends.
Ragwort
The name may be off-putting to some but don’t be dissuaded! The etymology of ragwort comes from Old English wyrt meaning root, herb, vegetable, plant, or spice and rag from the irregular or ragged edge to the leaves. One of the earliest perennials in the garden to bloom cheerful yellow in spring, Packera is a favorite to use in large drifts as a low-maintenance groundcover. One species we offer is perfect for drier, sunny locations while the other performs well in shady, damp sites.
Fleabane
Okay, yes, these common names leave a lot to be desired sometimes but this tough little native is a perfect substitute for Ajuga or other ground-hugging perennials. Similar in tune to lamb’s ear, this fleabane selection has hairy, silvery leaves growing from clumps that spread by short rhizomes steadily over time. In mid-spring, there is a profusion of white daisy flowers tinged with pink that stand proudly above the foliage. Plant it along the front of a garden bed, as the groundcover in a bulb display, along the edge of a path, or in a pot - it will shine wherever it goes!
Bluestar
What naturally complements the most widespread spring color of yellow? Why, blue, of course! Bright, stunning clusters of Amsonia’s blue flowers emerge at the tips of willowy foliage in mid to late spring. With these herbaceous shrubs ranging in size from a tidy 1’ tall to other selections as tall as 3-4’, there is sure to be a bluestar that fits whatever size garden space you are designing. If the unusual flowers and lush foliage wasn’t enough, the leaves turn a vivid golden yellow in fall. Adaptable to many planting conditions with multiple seasons of interest and it supports specialist bees? Give this native perennial a try.
Wild Columbine
Our native wild columbine is an absolute hummingbird magnet - a staple food source for our feathered friends when they migrate back north for the summer season. Prepare to be delighted by the delicate bells of bright red contrasting with yellow dangle from wispy stems on blue glaucous foliage. The plant seems to dance on the spring breeze. One could think that columbines are a tender plant, but they would be mistaken - they are tough and adaptable! Originally from rocky, part shade environments, they thrive in poor soils in sunny sites as well as seed in gladly along the edge of deciduous woodlands. When located in a good spot, columbine happily self-sows, adding to the energetic spontaneity of this durable spring blooming perennial.
