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Perennial Flower Bloom Times From Spring to Fall

Published on February 8, 2021Last updated November 18, 2021 â™› By Melissa J. Will

This post contains affiliate links.
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If you love flowers and want continuous blooms in your garden, this is for you. This handy, printable chart lists popular, flowering perennials, and their bloom times through the seasons. It also provides preferred sun/shade conditions and general growing zones.

Related: 20 Perennials for Long-Lasting Blooms | Tips for Flowermania

Hellebores blooming in early spring.

Choosing Plants for Continuous Blooms

Collage of flowers including columbine, clematis, and peonies.

Greetings, fellow flower fans! I can never have enough blooms in my garden. Please use this list as a starting point for filling your garden with long-lasting flowering plants throughout the growing seasons.

I am in southwestern Ontario, Canada (zone 6), and these plants are available at local garden nurseries. Most are hardy for zones 4 to 8. If you need to look up your zone, see the links below.

I can’t list the thousands of flowering plants available but this provides a good sample.

Wait! Before You Plant…

Empress of Dirt.

Be sure any plants you choose:

  1. Are recommended for your plant hardiness zone.
  2. Are not invasive in your area.
  3. Are suitable for your growing conditions including sun, soil, water, and wind.
  4. Contribute to biodiversity by providing food, nectar, or habitat for wildlife.
  5. Are not too big for the space available when they reach maturity.

You can read more ecological gardening tips here.

Avoid Invasive Species

Before you choose plants, it’s important to learn about invasive species in your area and avoid them.

Sometimes invasive plants are sold at nurseries so it’s best to find your local conversation authority, or invasive species monitor, or similar agency, and rely on their recommendations and warnings.

Related: Choosing Plants for a Cottage-Style Garden

Read Plant Tags

This list is generalized. There are so many plant species sold for home gardens, and many derivatives (cultivars, hybrids, related species).

  • Each may have its own preferences so it’s best to check the information on plant tags and use that as your guide.
  • You want to follow the planting advice (sun, soil type, location, drainage) and note when and how long the blooms should last.
  • Also, if you’re buying a plant when it’s in bloom, keep in mind that it may have been coaxed by greenhouse conditions. The plant will need time to adapt to your garden and find its natural bloom time the following year.

Related: Growing Vegetables: Weekly Indoor and Outdoor Seed Starting Plan

Experience 

Finally, if you avoid invasives, read tags, and follow good organic gardening practices, what happens in your garden is your best reference for future choices.

Micro-climates within a garden with variations in light, water, and soil can all alter the life cycle of plants.

I like to take photos and jot down notes throughout the blooming seasons for future planting decisions.

Scroll down to view the list. You can also grab the free printable file.

Find Your Frost Dates & Hardiness Zone

  • Plant Hardiness Zones | United States flag United States | Canadian flag Canada
    These are listed on seed packets and plant tags to guide your choices.
  • Average Frost Dates | Use this calculator at Almanac.com. Enter your city and state or province to find your first and last frost dates and number of frost-free days.
  • Tips: Understanding Frosts & Freezing For Gardeners

Perennial Flower Bloom Times

The bloom times are listed from late winter to fall in the (approximate) order that they appear.

Shop for Flower Seeds Online: SeedsNow or Botanical Interests (US Shipping).

See the Resources section for a free, printable list.


Winter to Early Spring

Hellebore
Hellebore
  • Hellebore | Helleborus spp.  | Part shade | zones 4 to 8
  • Epimedium | Epimedium spp. | Part shade to shade | zones 4 to 9

Early Spring

Foamflower
Foamflower (Tiarella)
  • Foam flower | Tiarella spp. | Part shade to shade | zones 3 to 8
  • Goat’s beard | Aruncus spp. | Part shade | zones 3 to 8
  • Pulmonaria | Pulmonaria spp. | Part shade to shade | zones 3 to 8

Spring

Columbine
Columbine
  • Ajuga | Ajuga reptans |Part shade | zones 3 to 9
  • Columbine  | Aquilegia spp. | Part shade | zones 3 to 9
  • Lady’s slipper  | Cypripedium spp. |Part shade to sun | zones 2 to 9
  • Trillium | Trillium spp. |Part shade | zones 5 to 8
  • Clematis (Group 1) | Clematis spp. | varies by type | zones 4 to 9

Mid Spring

Brunnera
Brunnera
  • Brunnera | Brunnera macrophylla Part | Shade to shade | zones 3 to 7
  • Shooting star  | Dodecatheon spp.Part | Shade | zones 4 to 8
  • Virginia bluebells | Mertensia virginicaPart | Shade to shade | zones 3 to 7

Mid to Late Spring

  • Peony | Paeonia spp.Sun | Zones 3 to 8

Related: 17 Flowers Seeds to Sow Mid-Summer

Late Spring

Lupine
Lupine
  • Coral Bells  | Heuchera spp. | Part shade | zones 3 to 9
  • Coreopsis | Coreopsis grandiflora | Sun | zones 2 to 10
  • Delphinium | Delphinium spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 3 to 8
  • European wild ginger | Asarum eurpaeum | Part shade to shade | zones 4 to 9
  • Lupine | Lupinus spp. |  Part sun  | zones 4 to 9
  • Oriental poppy | Papaver orientale | Sun | zones 2 to 9
  • Siberian Bugloss | Brunnera macrophylla | Shade | zones 3 to 7
  • Siberian iris | Iris sibiricaSun | zones 3 to 8
  • Solomon’s seal | Polygonatum spp.Part  | Shade to shade | zones 3 to 9
  • Spiderwort | Tradescantia virginianaPart | Shade  | zones 4 to 9
  • Veronica | Veronica spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 4 to 8

Early Summer

Daylily
Daylily
  • Bee balm | Monarda spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 2 to 9
  • Butterfly weed | Milkweed Asclepias tuberosa | Sun | zones 4 to 9
  • Clematis (Group 2) | Clematis spp. | varies by type | zones 4 to 9
  • Daylily | Hemerocallis spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 3 to 9
    Hemerocallis fulva is considered invasive in some parts of North America.
  • Lady’s mantle | Alchemilla spp. | Part shade | zones 4 to 8
  • Salvia | Salvia spp. | Sun | zones 4 to 8

Early to Mid-Summer

  • Primrose | Primula spp. | Shade to part shade | zones 2 to 9

Summer

Foxglove
Foxglove
  • Hosta | Hosta spp. | Part shade to shade | zones 3 to 9
  • Astilbe | Astilbe spp. | Part shade |zones 4 to 8
  • Bear’s breeches| Acanthus spp. | Part shade | zones 5 to 11
  • Blanket flower | Gaillardia x grandiflora | Sun | zones 3 to 10
  • Cranesbill | Hardy Geranium | Sun to part sun | zones 4 to 9
  • Daisy (Shasta) | Leucanthemum Ă— superbum | Sun to part sun | zones 4 to 9
  • Evening Primrose | Oenothera | Sun | zones 3 to 9
  • Foxglove | Digitalis spp. | Biennial | Part sun to shade |zones 4 to 8
  • Hyssop | Agastache spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 4 to 10
  • Lavender, English | Lavandula angustifolia | Sun | zones 5 to 9
  • Ligularia | Ligularia spp. | Shade to part shade | zones 4 to 10
  • Rose Campion | Silene coronaria | Sun to part sun| zones 4 to 9
  • Spike blazing star | Liatris spicate | Sun to part sun | zones 4 to 8
  • Purple coneflower | Echinacea purpurea | Sun | zones 3 to 9
  • Tickseed | Coreopsis spp. | Sun | zones 4 to 9
  • Anemone | Anemone spp. | Part shade | zones 4 to 8
  • Aster | Aster spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 3 to 9
  • Black-eyed Susan | Rudbeckia spp. | Sun | zones 3 to 9
  • Joe-Pye weed | Eupatorium purpureum | Sun to part shade | zones 4 to 10

Late Summer

Russian sage
Russian sage
  • Clematis (Group 3) | Clematis spp. | varies by type | zones 4 to 9
  • Lobelia | Lobelia spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 4 to 9
  • Mallow | Malva spp. | Sun to part shade | zones 4 to 8
  • Monkshood | Aconitum spp. | Part shade | zones 3 to 7
  • Russian sage | Perovskia atriplicifolia | Sun | zones 3 to 9
  • Torch lily | Kniphofia spp. | Sun | zones 5 to 9

Fall

  • Lilyturf | Liriope spp. | Part shade | zones 5 to 10
  • Mum | Chrysanthemum xmorifoliumSun | zones 4 to 9
  • Sedum | Sedum spp.Sun | zones 4 to 9

Resources

Mail Order Seeds

  • SeedsNow | Botanical Interests United States
  • West Coast Seeds Canada

Free List

Empress of Dirt

Flower Bloom Times By Season

Collage of flowers including columbine, clematis, and peonies.

Save to your device and/or print it.

Get Free Tip Sheet

Go forward and bloom!

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt â™›

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Collage of flowers including columbine, clematis, and peonies.
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I’m Melissa J. Will a.k.a. the Empress of Dirt (Ontario, Canada).
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