What Blooms in April

Sweet Pea

Ruffled, intensely fragrant climbing flowers in every pastel shade. Cool-season annual that hates heat.

Ajuga

Bronze-purple foliage with blue spikes. Fills bare shade in one season.

Creeping Phlox

Cascading sheets of spring color over walls and slopes. Evergreen mat.

Daffodil

Cheerful trumpets that naturalize beautifully and return stronger each year.

Hellebore

The Lenten Rose. Elegant nodding blooms that thrive in deep shade.

Snapdragon

Vertical flower spikes with squeeze-open blooms. Kids love them.

Sweet Alyssum

Honey-scented carpet of tiny flowers. The best living edging plant.

Viburnum

Fragrant snowball clusters in spring, then berries for birds in fall.

Vinca

Evergreen mat with periwinkle-blue flowers. Tough shade ground cover.

Dwarf Crested Iris

Tiny lavender-blue iris flowers with gold crests on a spreading native ground cover. A spring woodland treasure.

Ice Follies Daffodil

White petals frame a wide, ruffled cup that opens yellow and fades to cream. Multiplies fast.

King Alfred Daffodil

The classic golden trumpet daffodil. Naturalizes into massive sweeps that return for decades.

Pacific Bleeding Heart

Western native that blooms much longer than its eastern cousin. Ferny foliage all season.

Thalia Daffodil

Pure white, swept-back petals with two to three blooms per stem. Orchid-like elegance.

Wild Columbine

Nodding red-and-yellow spurred flowers that hummingbirds love on a self-sowing native that naturalizes along woodland edges.

Apeldoorn Tulip

Bold, goblet-shaped Darwin hybrid in scarlet with a black base. Strong stems and long-lasting.

Apple

Fragrant white to pink flowers in spring precede a fall crop of dessert apples.

Azalea

Explosive spring color in every warm hue. Acid-loving woodland classic.

Bergenia

Bold rubbery leaves provide year-round structure and turn burgundy in winter. Early pink flowers arrive with the hellebores.

Bleeding Heart

Arching sprays of heart-shaped flowers for shady woodland gardens.

Brunnera

Clouds of tiny forget-me-not blue flowers over heart-shaped leaves. Thrives in dry shade once established.

California Poppy

Golden cups that carpet hillsides across the state. Closes at night and on cloudy days.

Camassia

Tall spikes of starry flowers rise above strappy foliage in late spring.

Columbine

Delicate, spurred flowers that dance on wiry stems. Hummingbird favorite.

Coral Honeysuckle

Non-invasive native honeysuckle with brilliant coral-red tubular flowers that hummingbirds hover at for months.

Crocus

One of the first signs of spring, pushing through snow with jewel-toned cups.

Dutchman's Breeches

Finely cut foliage and clusters of puffy white pantaloon-shaped flowers in early spring. A charming ephemeral that disappears by summer.

Eastern Redbud

Magenta flowers erupt directly from bare branches. Spring showstopper tree.

Elliott's Bluestar

Pale blue starry flowers in spring give way to feathery foliage that turns brilliant gold in fall. Two seasons of beauty for zero effort.

Firecracker Penstemon

Spikes of scarlet tubular flowers that hummingbirds fight over. Southwestern native at its finest.

Forsythia

A wall of golden yellow on bare branches. Spring's loudest announcement.

Fritillaria

Checkered, nodding bells with an otherworldly pattern. A collector's favorite.

Glory-of-the-Snow

Star-shaped blooms that appear as snow melts. Naturalizes into drifts.

Grape Hyacinth

Tiny grape-like clusters that spread into rivers of blue over time.

Hyacinth

Dense, intensely fragrant spikes. One bulb can perfume an entire room.

Indian Paintbrush

Bright red to orange bracts surround small flowers and glow across spring prairies.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Hooded green-and-brown striped spathe sheltering a hidden spadix. Woodland curiosity followed by red berries.

Kerria

Cheerful golden-yellow pompoms on bright green stems that stay vivid green all winter. One of the easiest shade-tolerant shrubs.

Lenten Rose

Nodding flowers in late winter when nothing else is blooming. Evergreen foliage adds year-round structure to shade gardens.

Lilac

Intensely fragrant clusters that define spring in northern gardens.

Lily-of-the-Valley

Tiny bell-shaped flowers with one of the most intoxicating fragrances in the plant world. Spreads into lush carpets under trees.

Lungwort

Flowers open pink and turn blue on the same stem. Silver-spotted foliage looks great all season.

Queen of Night Tulip

The darkest tulip. Satiny, near-black maroon blooms that look almost unreal in late spring.

Scilla

Carpets of brilliant blue that naturalize under trees with zero effort.

Sea Thrift

Grassy tufts topped with round pink pom-poms. Loves lean soil and coastal conditions.

Spicebush

Clusters of tiny yellow flowers appear on bare branches in early spring on a fragrant native shrub with blazing yellow fall color.

Trillium

Three leaves, three petals, pure elegance. The jewel of eastern woodlands.

Tulip

The classic spring icon in almost every color imaginable.

Virginia Bluebell

Woodland ephemeral with sky-blue bells. Disappears by summer, returns faithfully.

Wild Blue Phlox

Loose clusters of sky-blue flowers float above woodland floors in spring on a fragrant, mat-forming native.

Wild Geranium

Soft pink blooms over deeply-cut foliage. A woodland edge staple.

Wisteria

Cascading, fragrant racemes that create a dreamy canopy. Needs structure.

Aubrieta

Purple cascades spilling over walls and rocks in spring. Shear after bloom for a fresh flush of foliage.

Basket-of-Gold

Bright golden-yellow cascades over walls and rock edges in spring. Cut back after flowering to stay tidy.

Bigtooth Maple

Mountain West maple with brilliant orange-red fall color and rugged drought tolerance.

Bloom-a-Thon Azalea

Repeat-blooming azalea with waves of color spring through fall. Evergreen in mild climates.

Callery Pear

Masses of white flowers in early spring on a tough, adaptable urban tree.

Common Fig

Large lobed leaves and sweet late-summer fruits give a Mediterranean feel to the garden.

Crossvine

Tubular orange-red trumpets line this vigorous semi-evergreen vine in spring, attracting every hummingbird in the neighborhood.

Desert Marigold

Cheerful desert wildflower that blooms almost year-round in warm climates. Thrives on neglect.

Dogwood

Iconic spring bloomer with fall berries and winter bark. Four-season beauty.

Encore Autumn Azalea

Spring blooms plus a full fall encore. Multiple color options in the Encore series.

Epimedium

Delicate fairy-wing flowers above leathery foliage. One of the toughest dry shade groundcovers.

Fawn Lily

Mottled leaves and nodding white flowers with swept-back petals emerge in early spring from Pacific Northwest woodlands.

Fothergilla

Fragrant white bottlebrush flowers in spring give way to some of the best orange-red fall color of any small native shrub.

Highbush Blueberry

Bell-shaped spring flowers are followed by sweet blue berries and excellent fall color.

Magnolia

Goblet-shaped blooms on bare branches. One of spring's most dramatic moments.

Marsh Marigold

Glossy buttercup flowers in early spring along streams and wet areas. One of the first wetland bloomers.

Oregon Grape

Holly-like evergreen with yellow flower clusters followed by blue berries. Tough, shade-loving native.

Paperbark Maple

Cinnamon-colored peeling bark and good fall color provide strong four-season interest.

Peach

Early spring pink blossoms smother the branches before juicy peaches develop.

Piedmont Azalea

Fragrant pale pink to white flowers open before the leaves in early spring, filling lowland forests with sweetness.

Prairie Smoke

Nodding wine-red flowers transform into feathery pink seed plumes that persist into summer. Native prairie gem.

Prairifire Crabapple

Deep pink-red flowers on a disease-resistant crabapple. Persistent small fruit feeds winter birds.

Serviceberry

White spring clouds, edible berries, and blazing fall color. Four-season native tree that deserves more attention.

Shooting Star

Nodding flowers with swept-back petals resemble tiny shooting stars in spring meadows.

Texas Blue Star

Fine foliage and pale blue starry flowers are followed by golden fall color.

Wild Azalea

Sweetly fragrant pinwheel flowers on a deciduous native azalea that grows from New England to Georgia. Earlier and more cold-hardy than most.

Anemone de Caen

Poppy-like flowers in jewel tones bloom in mid-spring over ferny foliage.

Coral Bean

Bold spikes of tubular red flowers in spring attract hummingbirds before bean pods form.

Draba

Tiny alpine cushion plant smothered in bright yellow flowers in early spring. Perfect miniature scale.

Fruiting Cherry

Showy white spring flowers mature into sweet cherries that attract people and wildlife.

Green-and-Gold

Bright yellow star flowers appear for months above mat-forming foliage. The best spring ground cover for the Southeast.

Japanese Maple

Small flowers are modest but foliage is the star. Hundreds of cultivars from laceleaf to upright. The connoisseur's tree.

Jasmine

Intensely sweet-scented white stars. The scent of warm southern evenings.

Persian Buttercup

Ruffled, rose-like blooms in vivid colors brighten cool spring beds and pots.

Pieris

Chains of lily-of-the-valley flowers dangle over colorful new growth. Year-round structure for shady borders.

Red Flowering Currant

Among the first shrubs to bloom in Pacific Northwest gardens, dripping with rosy-pink racemes that hummingbirds arrive for before anything else has opened.

Saxifrage

Mossy cushions dotted with dainty flowers. Tucks into rock crevices where little else will grow.

Sweet Olive

Small clustered flowers perfume the garden with an apricot-like scent over a long season.

Yoshino Cherry

Clouds of pale blossoms cover the tree in early spring, later followed by small bird-edible cherries.

Bougainvillea

Explosive cascades of papery bracts. Covers walls and fences in color.

California Lilac

Electric blue flower clusters on an evergreen California native. Hummingbird and bee magnet.

Carolina Jessamine

One of the first vines to bloom each year, smothering itself in fragrant bright yellow tubes in late winter and early spring.

Coral Aloe

Flat coral-orange rosettes produce vivid flower stalks in late winter. One of the hardiest aloes.

Gulf Coast Penstemon

Nodding tubular flowers in soft lavender shades brighten moist woods of the Gulf Coast.

Hawaiian Hibiscus

Large tropical blooms in vivid colors appear repeatedly from spring through fall.

Meyer Lemon

Sweetly scented white blossoms appear intermittently year-round and set thin-skinned lemons.

Oregon Iris

Small purple iris flowers with yellow signals on wiry stems. A tough, underappreciated Pacific Northwest native.

Rosemary

Aromatic evergreen herb with tiny blue flowers loved by early bees. Needs excellent drainage.

Bird of Paradise

Sculptural, crane-like flowers in orange and blue. Unmistakable.