Perennial Flower Bloom Times From Spring to Fall

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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.

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…

Be sure any plants you choose:

Are recommended for your plant hardiness zone.
Are not invasive in your area.
Are suitable for your growing conditions including sun, soil, water, and wind.
Contribute to biodiversity by providing food, nectar, or habitat for wildlife.
Will not be too big for the space at mature size.

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.

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.

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 | 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.

Ecoregion | Learn about the native plant and animal species and environmental conditions specific to your region to better understand why your garden choices matter.

Learn More: 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 | Helleborus spp. | Part shade | zones 4 to 8
Epimedium | Epimedium spp. | Part shade to shade | zones 4 to 9

Early Spring

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

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 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

Late Spring

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

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