All plants are beautiful, but some vibrant bloomers deserve our special attention. In this article, we’ll look at five brightest flowering plants that’ll liven your garden up.
Peony
Oh peony, what a perfect union of color and form—a sight to behold! Don’t forget the scent, so delicate, so exquisite. While the period of the peony bloom is short, all the many delights of having it in your garden are guaranteed. Moreover, this plant is exceptionally hardy and can grow in northern climates (unlike many exotic beauties), which is its huge advantage. Unfastidious and easy to care for, it requires only two things to produce stunning blooms: full sun and good drainage. Go for the peony to make a bold statement in your yard or garden.
Japanese pieris
Meet a perfect cover for your garden walls and shrub borders—the Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica). This plant is an early bloomer—it will please your eye with its fascinating white or pink drooping flowers at the end of winter or the beginning of spring (and with its variegated evergreen foliage—during the entire growing season). It is a slow grower; however, with time, it’ll create a dense flowering cover wherever you plant it. Relatively undemanding, the Japanese pieris prefers full sun or partial shade and is hardy to USDA zones 6 to 8. Be careful around this plant, though: all its parts are highly toxic to both humans and pets. We recommend admiring its blooms from a distance.
Forsythia
To add a dramatic flair to your garden, plant Forsythia. The shrub was named after William Forsyth (18th-century Scottish botanist) and is also called an “Easter tree” because it starts blooming with bright yellow flowers earlier than other plants. Every spring, this fantastic-looking shrub from the olive family will turn your garden into a luminous space full of joy. Forsythia loves to bathe in the sun; therefore, plant it in a spot where it can get at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. It is hardy to USDA hardiness zone 5, which makes it an excellent choice for plant lovers living in cold climates and willing to have something blooming in the garden before the rest of the countryside greens up.
Chinese wisteria
Do you hear something whispering tenderly in the distance? These are the vines of the Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) moving in the wind. Not the easiest plant to maintain, the Chinese wisteria will become a stunning focal point in your garden. It has a twining habit and usually grows by draping walls, fences, and any structures nearby, but with the proper approach, it can be trained into a single stem tree. In spring and summer, it produces long streams of sweet-smelling flowers. They drip down lavishly in vivid colors ranging from sky blue to rich lavender. Give the Chinese wisteria a chance, and a knock-out effect is guaranteed. Just one thing: it’s slightly invasive and will be spreading its runners everywhere, poking its head into the neighboring gardens, so you’d better keep it in check.
Foxglove
Huddling in the back rows of beds and borders, foxgloves will add height and interest to your garden. These stunning flowers with tubular blossoms and freckled throats on tall spikes are gorgeous on their own but can make a spectacular arrangement if planted next to other colorful plants (e.g., irises or lilies-of-the-valley). Foxgloves look their best in June. They are also biennials, which means that they produce leaves the first year, and flowers—only the next. It is also important to be careful around this plant as all its parts are toxic. We do not recommend adding it to your garden if you have small kids or pets.