As April’s Native Plant Month Comes to a Close, I Wanted to Shine a Light on My Current Blooming Faves, April’s All-Stars

April is a month of waking up — for soil, for pollinators, and for native plants that wait patiently all winter for their moment. As Native Plant Month draws to a close, I’m sharing a few standout species that have brought texture, color, and life to the garden this spring. These “April All-Stars” are not only beautiful — they’re working quietly to support the entire food web. They wait all year for their turn to shine and they make a wonderful excuse to visit the garden daily. Before long the sun will grow to be to hot for them, and the late spring and early summer plants will emerge to take their place.

🌿Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

A soft, dreamy bloom in shady spots. Loved by early bumblebees. Delicate “bells” hang from long soft stems with large kelly green leaves. The only thing wrong with this April performer, is that it only makes a cameo appearance.

🌿Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)*

Disney-inspired, Tinkerbell-approved red nodding flowers — an early hummingbird favorite. This plant had me at a very early stage. I wish I could see the look on my face the first time I saw it bloom. It looks like it belongs in a wild and tenacious fairy jungle with insects buzzing around, not in a backyard garden in the Piedmont region. I could take million photos of this plant and never tire of it.

🌿Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

Delicate lavender flowers in woodland edges. Great for early bees. The only thing this plant requires is a gardener to admire it, and some shade. This was one of the first plants I ever noticed “growing wild” out in the woods some years ago. It is sometimes referred to as spotted cranesbill. Here’s a story about that day.

🌿Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

An April bloomer that hosts black swallowtail caterpillars. The bright yellow umbels…let’s stop there. What is an umbel? Think of it as a slightly flat topped cluster atop long outstretched stalks. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin umbella “parasol, sunshade”. The arrangement can vary from being flat-topped to almost spherical. I love this plant because of it delicate nature, its propensity to host butterflies (sorry daffodil, you can’t do that) and that the yellow and green are such a perfect pairing. Perhaps because they sit so nicely together on the color wheel.

Celebrating the quiet power of native plants this April. Which ones are blooming where you are? 🌸🌿

Every one of these plants tells a story — not just of April blooms, but of centuries of co-evolution with native wildlife. These are the quiet heroes of early spring, and planting them is one small way we reconnect ourselves to the natural rhythms of the changing over of the seasons. I would love to know you April All Stars in your neck of the woods.

*Interstingly, I have this plant in two completely different locations in my garden and they are, as one would expect blooming at very different rates. They are less than 100 feet away from another, but one has the full red flower already, and the other does not. That to me, is fascinating!