Spring flowers for pots – 12 blooms to infuse seasonal color in your yard for a dazzling container display

You can have a lot of fun with spring containers as there are so many plants to choose from to take your displays right through the season to the first breath of summer. Combine your favourite bulbs with perennials and biennials to create a mini-woodland or spring meadow in a container. Use classic terracotta pots in varying sizes, or recycled boxes and tins mixed together for a vintage style. And go for bright, jewel like mixed color schemes, or all one color.

Do the same homework as you would do planting borders, matching your soil and light levels to what the plants will thrive in. Many early spring-flowering plants can be shy of strong sunlight, or will not last as long, so use these bright and colorful plants to decorate and light up shadier steps, corners and pathways.

Ideally, it’s great to plan ahead with fall-planted spring bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils growing up through wallflowers or forget-me-nots. However, you can still plant up a spring pot once the season is under way as many garden centers will be selling all these plants ready grown and perfect for adding to or refreshing seasonal containers.

12 eye-catching spring flowers for pots

Vibrant spring planter ideas are an easy way to lift your backyard, with a few well designed pots bringing color and interest to a patio, deck or even a front porch.

Include these spring flowers for pots in your designs and you'll get to enjoy pretty blooms throughout the season.

1. Erysimum

• Best for: Combining with tulips in larger containers
• Height: 16in
• Spread: 14in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 6 to zone 9

The humble wallflower is a lot more glamorous than its name suggests. With brightly colored, pretty flowers, often scented, they will keep the blooms coming from the early days of your spring garden through to summer.

They look great planted with tulips, providing early interest as the bulbs grow through. Team zingy varieties like ‘Apricot Twist’, ‘Winter Orchid’ or ‘Red Jep’ with classic tulips such as ‘Orange Princess’ and ‘Queen of Night’ for a bold and bright statement.

Find wallflower seeds at Amazon.

2. Viola

• Best for: Single-colour planting in small pots or window boxes
• Height: 6-12in
• Spread: 6-12in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 5 to zone 9

The pansy is a great flower to take your spring container gardening ideas through the winter-spring period, though it can be a little blousy for some. Choose Viola cultivars with a single or bi-color palette for intense pops of color and rich velvety textures planted in small pots.

Group outdoor planters together as table-top decorations, or on a step by your front porch. These are temperate plants, so look for varieties that have been bred to suit your local climate – use for shadier corners and keep containers well-watered.

There are many color variations to choose from. Recommendations from White Flower Farm include the purple and yellow ‘Halo Violet’, or dark maroon Viola cornuta ‘Rubin’ or the scented purple and white marbled ‘Columbine’.

Violas are also available to buy from Walmart.

3. Bellis perennis

• Best for: Sun or part shade
• Height: 6in
• Spread: 8in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 4 to zone 8

The cheery pink and white pompom flowers of the English daisy make a good companion in all sizes of spring containers from window boxes upwards.

'If you're looking for fast-growing flowers to grow from seed, there is no better choice than English daises,' says Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens at Homes & Gardens. 'They're a great filler in thriller, spiller, filler containers, and there's no denying each variety is charming in its own way,' she adds.

True Leaf Market's Bellis Habanera mixture has fluffy, double blooms. These daisies will flower merrily all spring and deadheading will encourage a later flush in summer too.

Rachel Bull

Rachel is a gardening editor, flower grower and floral designer. Her journalism career began on Country Living magazine, sparking a love of container gardening and wild planting. After more than a decade writing for and editing a range of consumer, business and special interest titles, Rachel became editor of floral art magazine The Flower Arranger. She then trained and worked as a floral designer and stylist in London for six years, before joining the Homes & Gardens team. 

4. Primula auricula

• Best for: Plant collectors
• Height: 8in
• Spread: 8in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 3 to zone 8

If you're looking for more unusual bulbs to plant in spring for pots, these are quite specialist plants and one for the fanatic. They work best in containers, planted solo, but displayed as a collection to show off the diversity of ornate flower types. In traditional horticulture, this would be referred to as an auricula theatre, but a shelf or window ledge would also work.

Flowering in mid to late spring, they suit small, traditional terracotta pots and need to be planted in gritty, well-drained compost to mimic the alpine conditions they would be found in. There are hundreds of cultivars to choose from with varying degrees of ornamentation. Here, ‘Lady Emma Monson’ is typically ornate, with the flowers displaying four colors.

You can also get a mix of Primula auricula seeds at Amazon.

5. Anemone blanda

• Best for: Larger containers
• Height: 5in
• Spread: 4in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 5 to zone 8

Start these spreading woodland plants from corms in a large container, perhaps underplanting a shrub or small tree such as Amelanchier lamarckii, where they will spill over the sides.

Later on you can divide and spread these shade-loving plants through shady borders to naturalize and repeat. The emerging foliage, deeply cut and feathery is lovely enough in its own right and the sunny daisy flowers that appear from mid spring to early summer are really joyful, whether you choose white, purple or blue or a blanda anemone mix as sold by Amazon.

Find the perfect container for your spring garden

6. Fritillaria imperialis

• Best for: Small to large containers in sun
• Height: 24-36in
• Spread: 12in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 5 to zone 8

Fritillaries come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, and they're set to make bulb planting trends this year. Great spring flowers for pots, whether it’s a small cluster of shy Fritillaria meleagris in a terracotta pot, topped with moss; or the far grander Asian F. imperialis as a showy spring centerpiece in a large container.

'I love fritillaries for their show-stopping quality,' says Rachel. 'They easily take center stage in pots, towering above smaller flowers in your planter. Just make sure you plant imperial fritillaries in a sunny spot to keep them blooming,' she adds.

Underplant hot coloured F. imperialis ‘Lutea’ or ‘Rubra Maxima’ with contrasting violas or forget-me-nots and trailing ivy. Plan ahead and plant spring bulbs in fall, or buy ready planted and plunge into your containers. You can replant into borders after flowering. One word of warning, imperialis have an unwelcome scent, so don’t use for containers near your front door.

Find bulbs for imperial fritillaries at Amazon.

7. Pulmonaria

• Best for: Shady areas
• Height: 14in
• Spread: 18in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 3 to zone 9

Flowering in mid-spring, lungworts are perfect for a shady corner, adding decorative leaves and pretty spring flowers in pink, white or blue to mixed plantings. Combine with ferns and shade tolerant ornamental grasses such as Milllium effusum, for a contrast in textures and tones of spring greens.

Make sure you add plenty of topsoil to your compost mix when growing lungwort, and don’t let your container dry out as these are moisture-loving plants.

Choose from classic and richly colored ‘Blue Ensign’, or lighter colored ‘Twinkle Toes’ with decorative, mottled foliage. This Raspberry Splash Lungwort from Amazon almost has an appearance of painted petals.

8. Primula species

• Best for: Natural, part-shady planting
• Height: 8-18in
• Spread: 10-12in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 4 to zone 8

Species primroses are iconic spring plants, with long lasting flowers starting in April. They love cool, moist soil as much as their fancy Primula auricula cousins like it sharp and well drained.

Choose the drumstick varieties, Primula denticulata, or the rocket-shaped Primula vialii for pink and purple color schemes and a more contemporary feel, or the team classic yellow English Primula vulgaris with Fritillaria meleagris or erythroniums for a fresh, cottage garden-themed planter.

This supernova primula mix from True Leaf Market gives you a range of colors to work with.

9. Forget-me-not

• Best for: Underplanting with tulips, fritillaries and shrubs
• Height: 12in
• Spread: 12in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 5 to zone 8

The diminutive forget-me-not is a real winner in spring, and while you might be more familiar with its roaming habit through borders and woodland edges, it is great in containers too, making a good companion plant for emerging tulips and crown imperial fritillaries in pots and other taller, bolder spring plantings.

The soft green foliage and froth of blue flowers will soften the edges of containers, adding a natural look. If you don’t tidy the flowers too much, it will self-seed readily, leaving a legacy of spring color for the coming years.

Find forget-me-not seeds at Amazon.

10. Ranunculus

• Best for: Providing color once tulips have faded
• Height: 18in
• Spread: 6in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 8 to zone 11

The persian buttercup, Ranunculus asiaticus offers lots of colorful options for containers to go through spring into early summer, depending on where you’re gardening. With a sumptuous range of bright, sunny colors the multi-layered blooms look wonderful taking over from tulips.

'They make excellent cutting garden flowers, too,' Rachel notes. 'Plant them in pots to enjoy through spring and cut them to bring indoors before they fade to extend the joy they bring,' she advises.

Although best planted as corms in fall, look out for ready-planted pots in your garden center to add to spring containers. Or, find ranunculus bulbs at Walmart for the next planting season.

11. Tulips

• Best for: Vibrant color throughout the yard
• Height: 18in
• Spread: 12in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 3 to zone 7

No spring display is complete without the best tulip types. While it's true you should plant tulips in fall, you can still plant tulips in early spring - however, they may not bloom as reliably as those planted earlier on.

'After visiting the tulip festival in the Netherlands, there are no other varieties I prefer over fringed tulips,' says Tenielle Jordison, Gardens Writer at Homes & Gardens. 'They have unique petals that bring texture to spring pots, as well as vibrant color,' she adds.

With so many tulips to choose from, there's one for everyone among Nature Hill's tulip collection.

Just make sure your tulips are planted in well-draining soil in a sunny position to ensure success in spring.

Tenielle is a News Writer in the Gardens team at Homes & Gardens with over five years of journalistic experience. She studied BA Journalism, Media and English Literature and MA Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. Before coming to Homes & Gardens, Tenielle was in the editorial department at the Royal Horticultural Society and worked on The Garden magazine. Tenielle writes on a range of gardening topics, from 'how to' guides to solutions for houseplant problems and inspiring garden projects, as well as the latest gardening news.

12. Cyclamen

• Best for: Full shade
• Height: 6in
• Spread: 6in
• Hardiness: US hardiness zone 4 to zone 8

One of the best spring flowers for shade is cyclamen. They come in a wide range of colors, thriving even when hidden from the sun. This makes them ideal for planting in containers to bring color to darker spots of your yard in spring.

There are lots of types of cyclamen, some flowering in fall, others in spring. For spring pots, opt for the unusual Cyclamen coum ‘Tilebarn Elizabeth.' It has pink-white blooms and does particularly well in container gardens, appreciating a well-draining pot. Alternatively, Cyclamen repandum has the classic magenta hue, blooming from April to May.

Discover the range of cyclamen bulbs available at Amazon.

FAQs

How do you care for spring flowers in pots?

When planting up containers large and small, aim for a good balance between well-drained compost and moisture-retaining topsoil. Many spring plants favor cool moist soils and, while bulbs prefer good drainage and don’t like it too wet, it’s all too easy to inadvertently let pots dry out when temperatures are still cool. So water regularly and protect new growth from slugs and snails with a covering of chicken wire that can be removed as plants shoot up.

What spring plants can be planted in pots all year round?

Use foliage plants to contrast with flowers and give you year round interest. For example compact evergreen shrubs like skimmias, ivies for trailing over the edges, and purple-leaved semi-evergreen heucheras work well, and are some of the best plants for pots. With this structure you can add seasonal bulbs and perennials.

Refresh containers each season, adding a new layer of compost and repot perennials such as primroses after flowering. You can grow them on through the summer, then divide and replant into containers for next spring. Many spring flowering perennials can be treated this way.

Although bulbs are always a winning choice for spring-themed pots, there are so many other options to include too. It means that even if you didn't find time to plant up the likes of tulips and daffodils in fall, you don't have to miss out on the delights of a seasonal container on your patio or deck. Plus, many of these choices are also plants for early spring pollinators, inviting wildlife to your yard as the weather warms up.