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Watching colorful early-blooming flowers come to life every spring is one of the best parts of the season. Those early shocks of color can lighten up any gray spring day, and give us a tangible sense of hope for the future. Here in Arkansas, we've got a long list of beautiful spring-blooming perennials to choose from, including these five garden classics. Adding these beauties to your yard will ensure you've got plenty of cheerful colors popping up to greet you every spring.
Dicentra is more commonly known as Bleeding Heart. Traditionally, it features pink heart-shaped blossoms with dangling petals that form a droplet shape. There are now many color choices available, from deep crimson red to pure white.
Dicentra does best in a location with dappled shade and consistently moist soil. They bloom best in the spring when it's nice and cool, and the blooms last for weeks. As the weather warms up, they may drop their blossoms and leaves may yellow—this is a normal part of their dormancy cycle. They'll often bloom again towards the end of summer when the weather starts to cool. Make sure to keep watering your Dicentra through the summer to prevent them from drying out.
There are several different varieties of Dianthus, also called Pinks or Sweet William, available on the market. However, not all of these varieties are perennial, as the Dianthus family includes annuals, biennials, and perennials. Make sure you check the tag before purchasing to make sure you're getting a perennial variety.
Although they're called Pinks, the name does not come from the color of the flowers. Pinks come in all shades of pink, as well as purples, whites, reds, oranges, and bi-color varieties. Their name comes from their jagged-edges petals that look similar to cloth cut with pinking shears!
Pinks do best in full sun and make a beautiful addition to the front of flower beds and borders. These pretty little flowers also last surprisingly well as cut flowers.
More commonly known as Spiderwort, Tradescantia features long, narrow blade-like leaves, and three-petaled flowers in a shade of nearly true blue. These hardy perennials usually bloom from May to July—however, they can start to look a little ragged after that. Tradescantia is also a vigorous self-seeder. So they don't necessarily need to be deadheaded, but if you don't want them to self-seed, you may want to remove spent blossoms as soon as they start to fade.
Spiderwort does well in full sun to partial shade, though they do like consistently moist soil. If you don't want to be watering them all the time, aim for a spot where they'll get some shade from the heat of the afternoon sun.
More commonly known as Foamflower, Tiarella is an excellent shade-loving groundcover. The beautiful pinkish-white flower spikes last for 4-6 weeks in the spring and are beautiful when planted in large groupings. Even once the flowers are finished, the foliage of Foamflower is very attractive and looks great all season long. This unique perennial does best in part to full shade locations with rich and moist soil.
Irises are a popular spring favorite, and there are so many different varieties available, you can never have enough in your garden. There are hundreds of types of iris available, many of which only grow in small geographic regions around the world. Whether you choose bearded iris, Dutch iris, Japanese iris, or crested iris, you can look forward to beautiful flowers in the spring.
Irises need plenty of sunshine, 6-8 hours per day, so plant them in a spot that gets full sun and has good drainage. When you plant iris rhizomes, make sure to plant them fairly shallow compared to other bulbs. The crown of the rhizome should be a bit exposed at the very top for the plants to thrive. They don't love mulch as the roots may rot if covered. They do best if divided and spaced out every few years.
Adding any of these five early spring blooming perennials to your Northwest Arkansas yard will bring you those delightful moments of early spring joy every year. We carry all of these and many more at each of our four garden center locations. Please keep in mind the current recommendations for social distancing if you choose to visit.You can now shop online for these and other perennials which we can prep for you for curbside pickup or local delivery.
