21-04-2025
Go native with pleasing perennials: Turn to British varieties to add pops of colour to your patch
There is a reason why Flora, the goddess of flowers, takes pride of place in Botticelli's famous painting Spring, with petals on her dress and strewn at her feet.
This is one of the loveliest times of year when spring-flowering perennials, many of them native, come into their own – those plants that return annually to bloom as the days grow longer.
Now the ground has warmed up, April is a great time to plant perennials. If you have gaps in your borders, buying plants in flower lets you see what works.
They might not put on much growth in their first spring, but in a couple of years they will reward you by bulking up. After three years or so, you can lift and divide them for more plants.
Aquilegias, also known as Columbine, or Granny's Bonnet for their distinctive nodding flowers, are one of my favourite spring perennials. They seed themselves liberally around our garden, usually ending up a dusky pink or purple.
HEART SHAPES
One of the more unusual spring-flowering perennials is Lamprocapnos spectabilis, or Bleeding Heart, with pink and white heart-shaped blooms hanging from stems like lanterns. It is useful for brightening up a cool, shady corner as it prefers damp, moist soil.
Forget-me-nots, or Myosotis sylvatica, are a much-loved wildflower. They are short-lived perennials, often grown as biennials.
Producing clouds of tiny blue flowers each with a little white eye, they make great companions for larger blooms such as tulips. In my garden, they tend to self-sow and move around from year to year.
Cowslips (Primula veris) are another native perennial much loved by pollinators, with upright stems bearing fragrant yellow flowers arising from rosettes of pale-green leaves.
They like moist soil, making them perfect for the edge of a pond or naturalised in grass where they will happily self-seed after flowering.
Many spring flowers prefer shade, including Elephant's Ears or Bergenia, with large, fleshy evergreen leaves often tinged with red.
In spring they produce clusters of bell-like pink or white flowers on tall thick stems that can be cut off once they have gone over.
Bergenias grow best in well-drained soil and do very well in our front garden, where they have multiplied. Remove any tatty foliage.
SHADE LOVERS
Pulmonaria or lungwort, is a low-growing plant with large-speckled leaves that resemble diseased lungs, hence the name.
From early to midspring, they produce pretty blooms in blue, pink and white. They thrive in dappled shade, where the combination of flowers and foliage make great ground cover. Good varieties to grow include Blue Ensign and Sissinghurst White.
The Pasqueflower, or Pulsatilla vulgaris, is associated with Easter. Although small (20cm x 20cm) it punches above its weight, bearing striking violet flowers with a golden centre that close at night and open wide during the day.
It prefers fertile, well-drained soil in full sun, making it ideal for a rockery or front of border. The roots don't like to be disturbed, so plant out when small and leave in place.
