Plants in Bloom

The outdoor gardens at Olbrich change contstantly throughout the year, but spring is one time when the weekly changes can be drastic and exciting! Make sure to plant some early visits to the Gardens to enjoy the first beautiful blooms of spring.

This is a brief outline of some of the plants in bloom at Olbrich in the spring, with an emphasis on bulbs, flowering trees, and shrubs. It's by no means totally inclusive, but will give you some idea of what you might see early in the season. By late May and early June the whole garden comes alive!

Month	Bulbs	Trees & Shrubs	Others	Photo
Mid to Late March	crocus, snowdrops	European alder, red maple, corneliancherry dogwood, vernal witch hazel	N/A	Snowdrops
Early April	crocus, snowdrops, early daffodils	alder, boxwood, elms, red maple, corneliancherry dogwood, hazelnut, quaking aspen, vernal witch hazel	hellebore, early rock garden flowers (pasque flowers)	Hellebore
Mid April	most daffodils, early tulips, scilla, glory-of-the-snow	birch, forsythia, early magnolias, corneliancherry dogwood	early woodland wildflowers, more rock garden flowers, spring annual containers are placed throughout the gardens	Scilla
Late April	late daffodils, tulips, fritillary, grape hyacinths	most magnolias, cottonwood and big tooth aspen, serviceberry, Korean abelialeaf, American plum, weeping willow	lots of rock garden and wildflowers (Virginia bluebells and trilliums), meadow bulbs peaking, early perennials beginning to bloom throughout the gardens	Magnolia
Early May	most tulips, late daffodils	crabapple, flowering cherry, callery pear, redbud, hawthorn, katsura tree, oak, rhododendron, korean spice viburnum, sugar maple	more early perennials, wildflowers, emerging foliage, gardens greening up throughout	Crabapple
Mid May	late tulips, globe allium, bluebell	common lilacs, peonies, late crabapples, azaleas, common horsechestnuts, pearlbush, early shrub roses, spirea, silverbell, blackhaw viburnum, weigela	most trees leafing out, lawns greened up, first annuals placed	Bluebells
Late May	globe alliums, foxtail lilies	most shrub roses (rugosa), black locust, dwarf Korean and littleleaf lilacs, pagoda dogwood, sweetshrub, vibernum, hybrid roses start blooming first week of June, pines	most annual flower beds planted, containers switched from spring to summer annuals, lots of perennials now in bloom throughout gardens	Allium