Hi GPODers and happy first day of spring!
Depending on where you are located, spring might already feel in full swing, the ground might just be starting to thaw, or you’re still dealing with the aftermath of recent snowstorms (If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere that is, happy autumn to all our GPODers in the Southern Hemisphere!).
No matter what your weather looks like right now, the equinox always signals an exciting shift. In the Northern Hemisphere, our daylight hours will officially start getting longer than our nights. Whether the rest of nature feels it yet or not, we know the inevitable changes are taking place or are on their way to.
To celebrate the spring equinox, I’ve decided to dip into the Garden Photo of the Day archives (similar to this post I did back in fall: A Few Favorite Fall Gardens from GPOD) to dig up some photos that I think exemplify this exhilarating season. I tried to select a range of gardens from different zones, which featured a great mix of plants that really scream spring. I hope you’ll enjoy this trip down memory lane. I hope it fills you with hope for the coming weeks of changes, and potentially inspires you to share the first signs of spring around you with the blog. Submissions tend to dip this time of year as people start spending more time outdoors (understandably!), but this is also one of the most exciting times to take photos and videos of your garden so I know the submissions will be rolling in soon. In the mean time, enjoy these submissions from springtime over the years.
First up, we have this colorful crevice garden from Kevin Kelly in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania during the spring of 2023. Kevin’s garden looks gorgeous in every season, and we’ve been lucky to see the space in its various forms through his many submissions (Kevin’s Pennsylvania Garden in November, Hazy, Hot and Humid in PA, Containers in the Landscape, A Winter Garden in PA, etc.). And spring is no exception, with a flurry of early bloomers and the lushest foliage imaginable. Check out more photos in the full post: Kevin’s Spring Garden.
This is a small crevice garden I built last spring in the front yard. Most of the plants overwintered and include woolly thyme (Thymus serpyllum, Zones 4–8), moss plox (Phlox subulata, Zones 3–9), Aubrietia (Zones 4–8), Lewisia (Zones 5–8), Saxifraga, and Sempervivum (Zones 3–8).
Next is a gardener who’s spring and summer flowers are only rivaled by her incredible snowdrop collection (which you can check out here: Snowdrop Magic in Margot’s Garden and Margot’s Snowdrops. Margot Navarre gardens in Bellevue, Washington and collects a variety of unique and uncommon plant varieties (Summer in Margot’s Garden, Margot’s Winter Garden, Highlights From a Washington State Garden, etc.). Many of these plants have very interesting blooms, like the beautiful three-leaved bittercress (Cardamine trifolia, Zones 5–9) in this vignette in 2022. Check out the full post: Spring in Margot’s Garden
The white flower buds of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis, Zones 3–8) still held closed, pushing up through a carpet of the dark green leaves and white flowers of three-leaved bittercress (Cardamine trifolia, Zones 5–9).
Another gardener who instantly comes to mind when I think of fabulous spring flowers is Carla Zambelli Mudry in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Carla is a frequent contributor who does an amazing job of documenting her garden through the seasons (Ahead-of-Schedule Flowers in Pennsylvania, A Weird Summer in Carla’s Garden, Hydrangea Season, A Dry November, etc.). No matter what the current conditions are or what curveballs nature sends her way, her landscape always manages to fill with wonderful blooms from bulbs, annuals, perennials, and lots of flowering shrubs. The abundance of blooms below are from spring 2022. Check out more photos in the full post: High Spring in Carla’s Garden
White daffodils (maybe Narcissus ‘Thalia’, Zones 3–8) and pink azaleas (Rhododendron hybrid, Zones 5–9) complement each other perfectly.
While most of us eagerly anticipate the first flowers of the season, fresh and colorful foliage can be equally exciting this time of year. Elle Ronis in Stamford, Connecticut grows an incredible collection of diverse and interesting plants, many of which have sensational blooms (Tiny Alpines and Huge Peonies, Elle’s Connecticut Garden, Flowers Big and Small, From Annuals to Orchids in Connecticut, etc.). However, it was this scene of colorful Japanese maples that caught my eye from her submission in 2020. Check out more photos in the full post: Spring in Connecticut
Assorted Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) showing their spring color. With the right varieties, leaf color in spring can be as beautiful as leaf color in fall.
Maybe I had St. Paddy’s Day on the mind when I was compiling these photos, because vibrant greens were really speaking to me. These “fresh greens of spring” were included in a 2018 submission from Kathy Schreurs in Sheldon, Iowa. Kathy’s many submissions also feature her appreciation and creativity with color (Kathy’s Iowa Garden in July, Keeping Faith in Beauty to Come, Bringing the Outdoors In, Not Only Violets Are Blue, etc.), but the vignette below shows the interest a limited color palette can still have. Check out more photos in the full post: Iowa Spring
I love pairing the fresh greens of spring with white, so that combination shows up in several places in my borders in April-May. I reserve one space for white tulips in the spring and white browallia (Browallia americana, annual) during the summer. I like calm, restful spots, and the combination provides peace in spite of a rather chaotic mix of hostas.
Another spectacular vignette with the the most vibrant of spring greens came from Jay Sifford in the western North Carolina mountains. Jay is an award-winning garden designer who has graciously shared his home garden with GPOD several times over the years (Kaleidoscopic Magic In Jay’s Autumn Garden, Daylilies: Up Close & Personal, Winter Interest in Jay’s Garden, Jay’s Garden in the Mountains, etc.), and now regularly contributes to our print magazine (Designing a Dog-Friendly Garden, How to Build a Stylish Dry Creek Bed, How to Design a Stylized Meadow Garden, etc.). The purple and green pairing below is from last spring. Check out more photos in the full post: Spectacular Spring Ephemerals in Jay Sifford’s Back Garden
Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris, Zones 3–7), woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata, Zones 3–8), and Veratrum say spring more than any other plant combination in the garden.
We can’t talk about spring gardens without highlighting spring-flowering trees, particularly those iconic cherry blossoms. While this scene doesn’t have the same vibrant color as most of the other photos in this post, I found that it was also a great representation of the turbulent weather many of us encounter during this season. This photo is from Donna Vail in Crescent City, California and features her incredible weeping cherry tree (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula Flora Plena’, Zones 5–8). Donna’s garden is full of whimsy that feels extra magical backdropped by the coastal redwood forest her property sits on (A Garden to Linger In in Northern California and Midspring Pleasures). Her post from 2020 shows the fun to be found even when the weather is moody. Check out more photos in the full post: Spring in the Coastal Redwoods
This picture shows the new spring growth on my double weeping cherry tree (Prunus subhirtella ‘Pendula Flora Plena’, Zones 5–8), along with a young redwood in the background and a birdhouse my neighbor made and I painted.
Along with all of these wonderful blooms and new plant growth in spring is a renewed frenzy of insect and wildlife activity. Barry Severn near Toronto, Ontario, Canada has incredible skill in capturing close ups of the plants in his garden and the wildlife that visits them (Wildlife in the Garden, Beauties From Barry’s Garden, Last Year in Barry’s Garden), as well as the fascinating plant finds he discovers at public gardens (GPOD on the Road: Centennial Park Conservatory and Allan Gardens Conservatory). In 2020 he shared this pretty little butterfly visiting an iconic spring plant, the pussy willow (Salix discolor, Zones 4–8). Check out more photos in the full post: Close-ups of Spring Flowers
A mourning cloak butterfly (Nymphalis antiopa) feeds on native pussy willow (Salix discolor, Zones 4–8) flowers. The caterpillars of this species also happily feed on the leaves of this willow.
While various spring bulbs have shown up in several of these photos, I had to include this colorful bed sent in by Marlene Suter in Westerville, Ohio that features these vibrant flowers in an outstanding way. In 2021, Marlene sent in amazing spring photos of the 2,000 (Yes, you read that right, 2,000!) spring bulbs she plants every year. I believe this is the only submission the Marlene has sent in to GPOD, but it certainly made an impact! Maybe some new words of appreciation and admiration will encourage her to send an update this year 😉 Check out more photos in the full post: Spring Bulbs in Marlene’s Garden
In the front beds, groups of 10 to 12 tulips and daffodils are scattered among perennials and shrubs. I love the way the clumps of flowering bulbs create points of color in the midst of the other plants.
One photo one of flowering tree does not give credit to the wonderful array of flowering woodies that put on their best show during the spring season. For more spring color from fabulous flowering trees I turned to Tingshu Hu in Dunstable, Massachusetts. Tingshu and her husband started their whole garden design around the purchase of a ‘Prairiefire’ crab-apple (Malus ‘Prairiefire’ Zones 4–8) (you can read more about that story here: A Space Created with Chinese Design Elements and English Garden Aesthetics), so I knew they were a highlight of their designs. Thankfully, Tingshu regularly submits her vibrant plantings (Tingshu’s Garden in Winter, Tingshu’s Low Maintenance Garden in Massachusetts, Tingshu’s Front Garden in Late Summer, Chickens in Tingshu’s Garden, etc.), so it didn’t take long to find this perfect photo from a submission in 2023. Check out more photos in the full post: Flowering Trees in Tingshu’s Garden
Looking toward the side yard from below the branches of the redbud, you can see the pink/red crabapple (Malus sp., Zones 3–8) that is an offspring of a ‘Prairie Fire’ crabapple in the backyard. It bears some similarity with its mother but is not the same. The white one in the middle is ‘Sugar Tyme’ crabapple (Zones 4–8), and the pink one is ‘Louisa’ weeping crabapple (Zones 4–8).
We’re wrapping up this compilation with another wonderful aspect of spring, the incredible displays that can be seen at public gardens during this colorful season. While all of the above photos have proven that any gardener can create spectacular spring designs, there are some things that the average home gardener does not have the manpower (or budget) to achieve. When you’re looking to admire massive plantings of colorful bulbs swaying in the breeze, look no further than public gardens like Butchart Gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia. Our frequent-contributor and intrepid garden explorer Cherry Ong captured this amazing scene at Butchart in the spring of 2023. Check out more photos in the full post: GPOD on the Road: Spring at Butchart
Coordinated swaths of tulips (Tulipa hybrids, Zones 3–8) and late daffodils (Narcissus hybrids, Zones 3–8) bloom together. The tulips in front are underplanted with forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica, Zones 3–8) to add a layer of blue around the larger tulip blooms.
Thank you to all of these contributors who have shared their incredible gardens with us over the years! No matter what season we’re in, endless inspiration can be found by scrolling through the posts on Garden Photo of the Day. Maybe your garden can add to this wonderful wealth of inspiration! Whether you have new growth to show off or you have spring photos you never shared last year, consider sharing them with the blog. Follow the directions below to submit your photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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