Seasonal Flowers

Most spring flowers grow from bulbs and corms. Low clumps lavender, purple, yellow and white crocuses appear before the last snows have melted. Many favorite spring flowers include perennials like columbines, primroses, English daisies, violets, and lilies. White violets and wild blue can be grown in the garden, but the lily of the valley with its sweet-smelling white flowers shaped like tiny bells grows well in a shady spot. One of the most striking and the largest of the spring perennials is the peony, with flowers made up of pink, velvety white or deep red petals. The peony plant is 2 or 3 feet tall, and grows like a shrub or bush.

The other spring flowers include delicate-blue forget-me-nots, sweet william, a relative of the carnation, and richly colored pansies.

Most summer flowers are produced from annual plants. They are brightly colored and make beautiful display. Many of these flowers can be cut and made into bunch-flower. The lacey sweet alyssum is a popular edging plant with its white or lavender blossoms. The portulaca with its vivid red, pink, yellow, white, and purple flowers carpet the ground. The zinnias, marigolds, and spiky snap-dragons come in white and shades of yellow, pink, and red, are also cutting flowers, can be made into a bunch-flower. The other summer favorites include biennials or perennials. They include white, pink and blue canterbury bells; purple, yellow, and white foxgloves; and blue delphinium.

Of all the summer flowers, the rose is the best loved and most fragrant. Roses have been cultivated for hundreds of years, and today there are more than 1000 verities of cultivated roses.

The dahlias, asters, marigolds, and chrysanthemums are among the flowers we can find in late summer and fall season. The dahlias come in wide range of colors and sizes. Some are tiny pompons of petals, and other blooms are the size of saucers.

Asters look like daisies, but have several rows of petals. Perennial asters come in white, pink, and lavender colors. Chrysanthemums come in a verity of colors and sizes as well. There are both single and double dahlias and chrysanthemums. Actually the Shasta daisies and marguerites are both chrysanthemums, and are among the last flowers to fade from the garden in the fall.