30 Early-Blooming Spring Flowers to Bring Color to Your Yard
Give your landscape the first splash of spring with these bulbs and perennials.
Early spring can be a gray affair. When the last dregs of snow are still lingering on the lawn, and the coming warm weather is still thwarted by occasional bouts of wind and frozen rain, it can be a real downer.
One of the best ways to help see winter off, however, is to plan a garden that starts bursting into flower at the earliest opportunity. Just seeing a few early daffodils or crocuses poking up out of the ground can feel almost as good as a warm ray of sunshine poking down between the clouds.
Some early spring flowers—bulbs and other perennials especially—need to be planted in the fall. But others, such as pansies can be planted as soon as the soil is warm enough to be worked.
Whether you are planting a few now, or just dreaming up what you want to do in the fall to ready yourself for next spring, this list of our favorite early spring flowers should help inspire you to decorate your landscape with some hardy, heartwarming blooms so that your garden can start growing as soon as possible!
Be sure to check your USDA Hardiness Zone if you don’t already know it. (And be aware that the map was updated recently so your zone may have changed in the last year or two.) Then make sure to buy varietals that are ready for your particular zone. An easy way to do this is to frequent your local plant nursery.
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Daffodils
Every spring garden needs these sunny yellow blooms! They come in sizes ranging from six inches to two feet tall, and they bloom at different times from early to late spring. Plant in fall for spring blooms next year and for many seasons afterward. Group bulbs together in bunches for the most dramatic effect instead of planting single bulbs.
Light: Full sun
Zones: 4 to 8
Read the Guide: How to Grow Daffodil Flowers
Crocuses
Small but mighty, vibrant crocus flowers come with a sweet fragrance and rich pollen that will lure nearby bees. These spring bulbs also multiply each year, adding more and more blooms in Easter-y purple, lavender, blue, orange, yellow, cream and white.
Light: Part sun to full sun
Zones: 3 to 8
Learn More: 13 Best Spring-Flowering Bulbs
Pansies and Violas
These charming annuals come in every shade of the rainbow, and their tiny “faces” are adorable. Plant violas and pansies in pots, baskets, and window boxes to brighten your early spring garden. Some types rebound in the fall or drop seeds to pop up again on their own next spring.
Light: Full Sun
Zones: 4 to 8
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Snowdrops
Also called galanthus, these bulbs must be planted in the fall for an early springtime show. But they often appear when snow is still on the ground in northern climates. Their pretty drooping white and green flowers do best in rich soils.
Light: Part shade to shade.
Zones: 3 to 7
Read the Guide: How to Plant and Grow Snowdrops
Sweet Alyssum
This tiny—but mighty—annual is sweetly scented and a favorite of pollinators. Layer sweet alyssum with spring bulbs or other more upright flowers that tolerate the cold, such as snapdragons.
Alyssum blooms best in cooler temperatures. If it starts to get shaggy in the heat of summer, trim it back and it should rebound as temps cool down again.
Light: Full sun to part shade.
Keep Reading: How to Make a Pollinator Garden That Works
Snapdragons
These pleasantly fragrant plants are called by many names—snapdragons, dragon flowers, and dog flowers. They're available in a wide range of colors, handle frost well, and can be planted late in the winter.
Light: Full sun to part shade
Zones: Annual; short-lived perennial in zones 9 or warmer
Read the Guide: How to Grow Snapdragons
Creeping Phlox
Low hanging, fragrant, and perfect for ground cover, these cute flowers grow in purple, blue, and pink hues. They also draw pollinators like butterflies to gardens. Plant them in areas with full sunlight or partial shade.
Light: Full sun to partial shade
Zones: 3 to 9
Keep Reading: 30 Best Ground Cover Flowers for Your Yard
Foxgloves
These tube shaped biennials are available in a range of colors—from hues of purple to yellow and red to white. Keep it away from children and pets since all parts of the flower are toxic when consumed.
Light: Full sunlight to partial shade
Zones: 3 to 10
Flowering Quince
This beautiful shrub is one of the first to bloom in spring in shades of pink, red, or peach. It works well as a border planting. Newer varieties are thornless so they're easier to handle.
Light: Full sun
Zones: 5 to 9
Forget-Me-Nots
Add these easy-to-grow annuals to your seasonal gardening plans. These deer-resistant blossoms come in a variety of shades—from blue and pink to white and purple. They're typically planted in the late fall to get early spring blooms and thrive better under cooler climates.
Light: Full sun to part shade
Read the Guide: How to Grow Forget-Me-Not Flowers
Heather
This perennial flowering shrub is also known as Calluna vulgaris and Scotch Heather. It great for ground cover, reaching 18-inches in height in shades of purple, pink, and white.
Light: Full sun to light shade
Zones: 4 to 6
Read the Guide: How to Grow Beautiful Heather Shrubs
Tulips
These bell-shaped, symmetrical showstoppers come in any color, shape, and size you can think of and make for a pretty landscape no matter how many you have in a flower bed. Be sure to get their bulbs in the ground by fall to enjoy them come spring.
Light: Full sun to part shade
Get the Guide: Exactly How and When to Plant Tulips in Your Garden
Irises
This tall and elegant flower variety is named after the Greek goddess of rainbow—Iris. These six-petaled beauties can grow up to three feet in height.
Light: Full sun to light shade
Zones: 5 to 9
Get the Guide: How to Care for Irises Like an Expert
Daphne Shrub
This lesser-known sweetly fragrant shrub is a real charmer in the springtime landscape in southern climates. Daphne shrubs bloom in late winter to early spring. Many species are evergreen, and most maintain a nice, rounded shape with little care. Full sun, with afternoon shade in hot climates.
Light: Full sun to partial shade
Zones: 6 to 9
Get the Guide: How to Care for Daphne Plants
Columbine
These hardy perennials attract hummingbirds and come in shades of blue, purple, violet, pink, red, yellow, white, and orange. The clover shaped blossoms need direct sunlight and well-drained soil to thrive.
Light: Full sun
Zones: 5 to 9
Keep Reading: More Full-Sun Perennials for Sunny Spaces
Deciduous Magnolias
These early spring bloomers have gorgeous, almost unreal-looking blossoms. There are many different types of magnolias, some which are evergreen and some which are deciduous, which means they shed their leaves. Many deciduous types of magnolias bloom before they’ve even leafed out again. Because there are so many different types, make sure to select one that's suited to your USDA Hardiness zone.
Light: Full sun to part shade
Zones: 4 to 10
Get the Guide: Learn More About Magnolia Trees
Wallflowers (Erysimum)
Wallflowers come in almost every color of the rainbow and have a lovely fragrance. Plant them right after the last expected frost date.
There are varieties that are annual, biennial, and short-lived perennial, but most last just a season or so before becoming leggy. Wallflowers have even been known to thrive growing between the mortar in stone walls (thus, their name!).
Light: Full sun to part shade
Zones: 6 to 10
Lily of the Valley
The white and sometimes pink colored flowers (also known as May Bells and Mary's Tears) provide useful ground cover, grow 6 to 12 inches tall, and emit a sweet fragrance, and have a long history as symbols of love and motherhood. Plant them with care because they spread aggressively and are invasive in some areas.
Light: Partial shade
Zones: 2 to 7
Learn More: Lily of the Valley was Queen Elizabeth's Favorite Flower
Grape Hyacinth
The delicate grape-scented blooms, also called muscari, top out at four to six inches tall, so they look great in rock gardens or along the front of beds.
Plant them in the fall for spring blooms next year. They naturalize readily, so every year you’ll have more of these dainty little flowers.
Light: Full sun to part sun
Zones: 3 to 9
Keep Reading: More Brilliant Blue Flowers for Your Garden
Diascia
The tiny open-faced blooms of this lesser-known cool season annual come in pleasing springtime shades of pink, peach, and white. Plant them with other spring bloomers in pots or as a ground cover. They fade when it gets hot.
Light: Full sun to part shade
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