Flowers in March

Northwestern USA

• The aroma of honeysuckle (Lonicera) can permeate garden air in March with its delicate white/yellow blossoms. Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) and winter-flowering honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) produce yellow or white clusters of blossoms on their shrub-like structures before their leaves emerge.

Desert Southwest

• In the desert Southwest, plants bloom all year around, but some wildflowers only bloom during the late winter or early spring. Fairy duster (Calliandra eriophylla) is a low shrub covered by delicate pink blossoms in March. Prolific mats of color are characteristic of the Desert or Mexican Gold Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica ssp. mexicana) that begins blooming at the end of February and continues throughout March.

Middle USA

• The crested iris (Iris cristata) is a bulb perennial that is shorter and earlier-blooming than the more common bearded iris, though it can be of similar colors in shades of purple, white and blue. The maroon, purple or white blossoms of the perennial pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) can be seen sprouting up under deciduous trees that have yet to produce leaves in early spring.

  Take a walk through the woods in late March to view the single white blossoms of the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) wildflowers. The flowers only last a day or two. Little bunches of white flowers pop up on the candytuft (Iberis sempervirens), a perennial that grows like a blanket in part shade or sun. Pig squeak (Bergenia cordifolia) provides color to a garden, even in winter, when its green leaves turn red or maroon. Its tall (12 to 14 inches) stalks produce pink and white ornamental flowers.

Northeast States

• In the Northeast, snowstorms are expected occurrences in March. Flowers that bloom during the late winter or early spring have to be especially hearty. Witch hazel (Hamamelis) produces spiky yellow and red blossoms, and the large shrub size it can grow to makes it especially showy. Bright yellow flowers also offer color against a winter backdrop of the leafless branches of winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are low-growing plants that have clusters of small white flowers whose centers nod towards the ground. The clusters of hairy little flowers called pussy willow (Salix) are known and loved in New England as harbingers of spring. The earliest blooming bulb flowers, crocuses, are also a welcome spot of color in purple, blue, white, yellow or pink, often popping up through the snow.