The 10 best plants to beautify your yard this spring

(Flickr / Andrew Seaman)

With the last snowbank melting its way into the gutter, now’s the time to be planting your early spring flowers.

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Here are 10 that do well in early spring temperatures.

1. Pansies

Pansies prefer cool weather. It’s an annual that gardeners flock to because it’s one of the best flowers to plant in spring for early-season containers and window boxes, relishing the variety in colors as much as the uplifted blooms.

It grows best in sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil. It reaches about 10 inches high and a foot wide.

2. Yellow trillium

Yellow trillium is a plant meant for spring. Once its flowers die back at the season’s end in June, the foliage recedes, too. But in April, its marbled leaves and delicate yellow-white blooms are a welcome sight.

In a woodland garden, pair it with other shade-lovers – it likes shade and moist, well-drained soil. It reaches 16 inches tall and 12 inches wide.

3. Hellebore

Also known as a Christmas rose, hellebores produce flowers of delicate beauty and surprising resilience. If it isn’t a regular occurrence, they can tolerate a light frost, which makes them a great plant for the early spring.

It likes shade and moist, well-drained soil, and grows up to a foot tall and 18 inches wide.

4. Bloodroot

This perennial makes its appearance in March, shooting up white flowers that last until late spring. It’s one of the best flowers to plant in spring and a good fit for either a shaded or woodland garden.

It prefers shade and moist, well-drained soil. It grows up to six inches tall and a foot wide.

5. Snowdrop anemone

These bright and sweet-smelling blooms work well even in a spring garden that’s slightly shaded. It can often offer up a second round of blooms once the cooler temperatures of fall arrive.

It likes full sun or part shade with moist, well-drained soil. It grows six inches high and a foot wide.

6. Lilac

There’s nothing better in spring that the smell of lilacs on the air. Lilac varieties, one of the best flowers to plant in spring, come in all shapes and sizes, from dwarf shrubs to taller trees.

The lilac blooms on old wood, so hold off on pruning until right after the same year’s flowering is finished. It needs full sun and well-drained soil, and trees can grow up to 20 feet tall.

7. Grape hyacinth

Hyancinths are a sure sign that spring is in the air. Clustered flowers hang in bundles, resembling grapes; they are one of the most beautiful plants in the spring, but they are poisonous.

They prefer full sun or part shade and well-drained soil. They grow up to eight inches tall and six inches wide.

8. Daffodil

I saw the first of these this morning, and it was a welcome sight. The bright, cheery spring flower has a range of shapes and sizes, from trumpet to small- and large-cupped to double. Deer find them less palatable than other spring plants.

They prefer full sun and well-drained soil, and grow up to a foot tall and wide.

9. Tulip

Tulips are one of the most beautiful spring sights, and they are one of the best flowers to plant in spring. They fit a variety of garden settings — from formal border gardens to naturalistic, casual settings. And there’s a tulip for every gardener, from diminutive 4-inch-tall specimens to extravagant multifoot-high blooms.

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They like full sun and well-drained soil, and grow up to two feet tall and a foot wide.

10. “Pink Discovery” azalea

Like spring, the Pink Discovery azalea bursts onto the scene but doesn’t last long. It’s mass of flamboyant flowers provides a just-right transition from spring to summer bloomers, though.

It likes partly shady terrain with moist but well-drained acidic soil. It can grow up to 10 feet tall and wide.

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