What's Blooming?

Even if you only have time to step inside our front gates, it's worth a stop at the Gardens right now to enjoy these crabapples. They're smothered in fragrant white flowers along both sides of the Promenade! Stunning!

Look for this beauty planted underneath the first Spring Snow crab apple on the west side of the Promenade. It is known for its sweet and spicy fragrance, often described as similar to a mix of vanilla, spice cookies and a hint of clove. Yum! Planted in 2011, this Korean Spice Viburnum will slowly grow to 6 or 8 feet tall.

A compact plant with glossy, dark green foliage and sharp thorns. Outstanding orange to red fall color appears early and remains late until leaves drop. A better barberry choice for alkaline sites. Look for it on the north end of the west Promenade.

Golden Storksbill is a 2011 Plant Select® species. It's silvery mounds of evergreen, ferny foliage are decorative in their own right. Fragrant, soft yellow, geranium-like flowers from early spring until late summer. Long lived , easy, and adaptable -- you'll find it on the west side of the Promenade. 

One of our first lilacs to bloom, this beautiful French hybrid covers itself in abundant clusters of double, lavender-pink, superbly fragrant flowers. There are so many blooms that you smell the classic lilac scent long before you see it in the garden. Look for it to the west of the stage in the Valley Garden.

We couldn't resist this beauty in the Valley Garden. Corsican violets, are Mediterranean in origin with large, one-inch, bright purple flowers. A Plant Select species, they are heat tolerant and perennial, and can take considerable drought. Excellent in a rock garden.

A low grower, this phlox reaches a modest 4-6" in height, making it the perfect choice for front borders, rock gardens and as a gorgeous flowering ground cover. It is drought-resistant once established, butterflies love it but deer won't bother it. Look for it along the path at the base of our stream feature in the Waterwise Garden.

Pink buds opening to white flowers smother the dense, rounded head of this compact dwarf. Summer foliage is especially clean and bright green. An abundant fruit crops persists well into winter, slowly turning from golden yellow to orange. Look for it in the northeast corner of the Waterwise Garden.

Pawnee Buttes Sand Cherry, a Plant Select species, is a ground-covering form of our native sand cherry. Fragrant, white flowers attract pollinators in April. By summer, it produces a heavy crop of black cherries that are attractive to wildlife. The lustrous, green leaves turn bright red and purple in the fall. Look for it above our southern Shavano Plaza as well as the Native Garden.

Pasque Flowers are known for their fabulous early spring flowers, soft, fuzzy, gray-green foliage, and showy, silky seed heads that persist for many months after the flowers have faded. They are also an invaluable source of early season nectar. Look for them in our Rock and Waterwise Gardens.

Creeping potentilla (or cinquefoil) is a low-growing groundcover. It has dark green leaves with runners that root at each node, making it an aggressive spreader. The first individual to flower in our Gardens this spring planted itself in the gravel near the Native Garden. Look for more soon in the nearby beds where they were planted!

Clusters of fragrant early-spring blooms attract butterflies and early bees.
Abundant dark purple berries appear in summer, providing a sweet treat for both birds and humans. Look for it on the east side of the Waterwise Garden, across the path from the stream feature.