by Kate Worrall

Created on: April 01, 2010

The winter is a very long cold season for most of us and its time to start looking forward to the better weather. The best sign of Spring coming is flowers appearing in the garden and out in the fields. Below are ten great plants for a lovely Spring garden.

Snowdrops – These are very common but they are simple beautiful flowers. The white bell flowers are approximately three to six inches high and they will flower in late February. These are best along walkways to outline them.

 Crocus – Crocus are simple small purple flowers reaching approximately six inches high. They flower in March and look lovely amongst the above mentioned snowdrops or planted to carpet and area.

 Tulips – There are many varieties of Tulips and there are some that will flower all the way through the Winter as well as the Spring. These colourful plants range from four inches to twenty five inches and come in a variety of colours.

 Daffodils – Whilst these are very common, they are still lovely vibrant flowers. They come in a variety of colours ranging from yellow to orange to white. There are hundreds of varieties which will all make your garden look bright. There are Dwarf Daffodils which are lovely dainty flowers to the taller varieties. These taller ones are perfect for cutting and putting in a vase to cheer up your home. These bulbs can be easily planted and will flower every March.

These plants are very common but here are a few that are not so common.

Winter Aconite – The Winter Aconite flower has 3inch high stems with little yellow flowers that resemble buttercups. In the milder weather this may flower as soon as January. If these are planted across an area you will get the most gorgeous yellow carpet.

 Glory of the Snow – The Glory of the Snow flower is generally bright blue which a white centre although there are pink and white varieties. At six to ten inches high these beautiful flowers are perfect for walkways, borders and rock gardens. This flower will bloom in early spring.

 Spring Snowflake – This is not to be confused with the Snowdrop. Although it has similar white bell flowers, there is either a green or yellow spot on the ends of the petals. The Spring snowflake will grow up to eight inches and looks great in clumps. It flowers in late February or early March.

 Netted Iris – This flower is normally purple but can come in blue or white. They bloom in early march and grow between four inches to six inches. The Netted Iris looks good in clumps or as a blanket of colour.

 Fritillaria Uva Vulpis – This plant is also known as Foxes Grapes. These beautiful flowers are yellow edged petals with reddish purple as the main colour. They can grow up to 16 inches and will bloom in late March. As these are so tall they would look lovely in a border or along a walkway.

 Fragiformis Potentilla – This shrub flowers in late March. It has small delicate yellow flowers with orange centres. These can also come in red and white.

 As with any bulbs, these need to be thinned out after a few years as they tend to multiply rather quickly and before long you will be over run with bulbs. These will then take the nutrients away from any other plants that are in the area. Bulbs can be easily planted and left to their own devices so it can be nice to place them down your driveway or even on the verge of the road.  When looking for plants please check if the ones you want will grow in your climate.

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