Parade of Blooms

Follow this guide for a tour of what might be in bloom for your next visit this spring!

Spring ephemerals

March-April

In early spring, the short-lived blooms of native spring ephemerals such as snow trillium, sharp-lobed hepatica and Dutchman’s breeches peek through the leaf litter in woodland areas across the Arboretum including the Dayton Wildflower Garden. These wildflowers complete their entire life cycle before the trees above leaf out, seizing a brief window between snowmelt and summer.

Daffodils

March-May

Daffodils, or Narcissus, are synonymous with spring when their yellow, white and cream-colored flower heads bob in the breeze atop ribbon-like foliage. At the Arboretum, more than 100 cultivars of these spring-flowering bulbs bloom throughout the gardens around the Oswald Visitor Center. Don’t miss the large, dramatic display of daffodils just beyond the gatehouse as you enter the Arboretum.

Eastern redbuds

April-May

In early spring, vivid magenta-pink flowers line the branches of these amazing spring-blooming trees even before their leaves unfurl. While native to North America, redbuds weren’t quite hardy enough for Minnesota’s cold winters until the popular cold-hardy Minnesota Strain redbud was identified at the Arboretum in the 1960s.

Tulips

May

Last fall, Arboretum staff and volunteers planted more than 40,000 tulip bulbs in the annual gardens resulting in an explosion of pastel color this spring. The gardens will display 126 varieties in a palette of warm pastels, including sherbet yellows, peaches and pinks accented by lavender and purple hues. This year will also showcase many new varieties, so don't miss out!

Lilacs

May

The heady scent of lilacs draws visitors to the Lilac Walk and Lilac Collection in mid-to-late May. The spiral-shaped Lilac Collection — located between the gatehouse and the parking bays — is the oldest collection at the Arboretum and features a wide variety of lilac species, hybrids and cultivars from around the world. More than 420 individual lilac specimens are planted throughout the Arboretum, including in the Lilac Collection, Lilac Walk and Bailey Shrub Walk.

Crabapples

May

In early May, a sea of pink, white and magenta blooms decorates the rolling slopes home to the Crabapple Collection. Located along Three-Mile Drive and Walk, the collection features more than 300 individual plants and 147 unique crabapple taxa, including species, hybrids, selections and cultivars. Look for eye-catching varieties ‘Prairifire’, ‘Adirondack’ and the first crabapple introduced by the University of Minnesota, ‘Flame’, in the collection and throughout the Arboretum’s gardens.

Iris

Late May-early June

In Greek mythology, “Iris” is the name of the goddess of the rainbow, an apt name for this genus of plants whose flowers bloom in every shade and hue in the Arboretum’s Iris Garden in the spring. Hugging the shore of the pond near the Sensory Garden, the garden features more than 500 cultivars and nine species of both bearded and beardless iris.

Azaleas

Late May-early June

While azaleas are not native to the Midwest, the vivid colors of azaleas have become a spring staple in Minnesota gardens thanks to the Lights series of azaleas introduced by the U of M beginning with bright pink ‘Northern Lights’ in 1978. Find azaleas at the Arboretum in the Woodland Azalea Garden and in the Azalea Trial Garden between the Maze Garden and the Pine Collection, where new plants are tried and tested before being introduced by the breeding program.

Peonies

Late May-early June

In late spring and early summer, big, bold peony flowers steal the show across the Arboretum’s Gardens. Find a wide variety of herbaceous peonies, woody-stemmed tree peonies and intersectional peonies — a cross between herbaceous and woody-stemmed peonies also known as Itoh peonies — on the Peony Walk near the Annual Garden.

Parade of Blooms

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