Bring spring to your garden

Spring has arrived and with it a host of cheap and cheerful flowers you can buy and plant for instant colour. Nurseries and garden centres often sell spring flowers and bulbs

These are fleshy, rounded, underground storage organs, usually sold and planted while dormant. Examples include daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, lilies, onions and garlic. The term is often used to cover other underground storage organs, including corms, tubers and rhizomes.

in pots, ready to plant, so if you missed the boat back in autumn bulb-planting time, or aren’t able to grow from seed, here are the best plants to bring spring zing to your space.

Think long term

The yellow flowers of Forsythia can’t fail to brighten your day

Some of the best spring plants are shrubs, such as Jasminum nudiflorum, Mahonia aquifolium and of course Forsythia, and are all yellow-flowered.Shrubstend to be more expensive to buy as they are long-term investments, providing happiness for years to come, so find out about your potential purchases and their needs using Find a Plant, checking you are buying the right plant for the right place. You can also buy shrubs as bare-root

These have been lifted from the ground while dormant, with little or no soil around their roots. Various plants may be available bare root, including fruit trees, hedging plants and some perennials. They are generally cheaper than plants in containers, but are only available in winter/early spring, while dormant

plants between around November and March, which is more affordable and environmentally friendly, and plants often establish better.

Spring-interest shrubs

Choose blue

Blues and yellows are the perfect spring combination

Blue is often seen as a restful, soothing colour but pair it with yellow and suddenly you create a vibrant and energetic zing in the garden – just what’s needed to sweep away the winter ‘blues’! Add blue grape hyacinths, Anemone blanda and Scilla, all of which you can buy either potted now or as dry bulbs in autumn, and team it with perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

blue Pulmonaria. If you have space for a star shrub, evergreen Ceanothus bring arguably the best spring blues.

10 award-winning bulbs with blue flowers

Undercover classics

The dappled shade under trees makes the perfect spot for many spring-flowering plants

Shady spots under trees are classic spring-planting spots for plants that do most of their growing before the trees leaf out – lovely examples includethe wonderfully named epimediums, hellebores, bleeding hearts, foam flowersand lungworts. These make the most of the dappled light and fertile soil created by years of leafmould, before fading into the background as the tree canopy opens above them.

Plants for shade with spring interest

Potted spring

Enjoy the beauty of camellias at close hand by planting them in pots with ericaceous compost

Consider camellias for containers, patio or balcony gardens. These evergreen shrubs flower freely in spring and their rich glossy green leaves are attractive for the rest of the year. They prefer an acidic soil so make good potted specimens as you can plant them in peat-free ericaceous

Plants that thrive in acid or ericaceous soil, which has a pH of less than 7 (neutral). You can measure your soil pH using a simple testing kit. Ericaceous or acid-loving plants include rhododendrons, camellias, heathers and blueberries.

compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

.

Spring-flowering camellias

Guy’s pick of yellow spring flowers

Primroses

Primroses (Primula vulgaris) can persist for many years even in shady borders. Can be grown as biennials for bedding, in a container, in a woodland garden, rock garden or naturalised

Naturalised plants are those that have been introduced to a place outside of their native range and have become established in the wild there, surviving, reproducing and spreading without help. Sycamores, snowdrops and sweet chestnuts are naturalised plants in the UK.

in grass. Prefer a sheltered position in sun or partial shade. How to grow primroses >

Cowslips

Cowslips (Primula veris) can establish themselves in rough grass or in borders and are often used in May celebrations. Steeped in myths and legends, they are also said to bring good luck. How to grow cowslips >

Pansies and violas

Pansies and violas make the perfect addition to a pot and bring their happy, colourful faces to any combination. They are also easy to grow with children or beginner gardeners.

Daffodils

Buy potted daffodils to plant out and they will come back year after year in garden borders. They prefer fertile, well-drained conditions with plenty of sun and are also happy in containers. Do you have the missing daffodils? Find out more >

Tulips

Tulipa ‘West Point’

Look out for potted tulips from April. These come in rich shades including some delightful yellows – ‘West Point’ and ‘Golden Apeldoorn’ are classics of their kind. Find your favourites >

5 spring plants to pep up your garden

Introducing daffodils

Spring delights at RHS Gardens

Shop for instant spring colour

Find plenty of colour to fill your beds and containers with cheerful colour this season at RHS Plants. Or visit your local RHS Garden Centre.

Shop for spring plants