29 Best Early Spring Flowers and Blossoms

Spring flowers, plants and shrubs bring joy to everyone after the greyness of winter. Here, we look at the best breathtakingly beautiful but all too brief early spring flowers, including blossom. We also recommend the best spring shrubs and the best spring flowers and plants for when the season is in full swing, including cherry blossom, apple blossom, clematis and daphne.

There’s always one particular day when you can first smell the scent of spring growth in the air. Breathe it in deeply and capitalise on the energy it gives you: get out there and start primping and pruning, enjoying the thought of what the coming seasons will bring. Buy some ready-potted spring flowers, like grape hyacinths or dwarf narcissi to have by your front door – they’re fuss-free and can be planted out once flowers have faded.

Make the most of mild days by doing a spot of weeding – at the very least, whip off any emerging seed heads to keep ahead of the onslaught.

If putting in new spring plants, choose ones that will naturally thrive in your garden’s particular conditions, be that shade or sun, and make this the year you grow some hardy annuals from seed – it is rewarding and cost effective.

Capitalise, too, on the use of pots and tubs. Seed companies produce mini veg varieties that can be grown easily in containers, and there are dwarf trees and shrubs that will provide you with potted colour.

Most of all, gear your garden around tasks you enjoy and plan out some areas that will largely look after themselves with minimal input from you. Gardening, like life, shouldn’t be viewed as an endless ‘To Do’ list – it is something to be savoured.

BEST EARLY SPRING FLOWERS AND PLANTS

1. Japanese quince – Apple blossom

Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Moerloosei’, a cultivar of the Japanese quince, is also known as C. ‘Apple Blossom’ because of its remarkable resemblance to its namesake. It is equally happy growing in full sun or partial shade in most soils and, left to its own devices, will grow into a thorny tangle of branches. If pruned back after flowering, it can be trained into a neat shrub or makes an excellent wall shrub or hedge. The fruit can be used to make jelly.

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