Malus 'Adirondack'

Adirondack Crabapple

The red buds of Adirondack crabapple open to white flowers tinged with pink, followed by small, persistent red-to-orange fruits. Its vase-shaped, branching structure makes it appropriate where space is limited. Adirondack is rated excellent for disease resistance by the University of Illinois Extension.

Crabapples are small flowering trees that provide a showy display in the spring landscape for one to two weeks. In addition to the eye-catching buds and flowers, their foliage, habit, and fruit make them attractive plants almost year-round. They are actively hybridized for flower color, leaf color, fruit size/color, shape, and, most importantly, disease resistance. Crabapple fruits are usually not eaten by humans but are beloved by birds. Most crabapples benefit from modest amounts of pruning to eliminate water sprouts and improve airflow.

Dicentra spectabilis

Common Bleeding Heart

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis), native to Japan, produces long, arching sprays of pendulous, heart-shaped, deep-pink-to-red blooms with white-tipped flowers. A wonderful early spring perennial for shady locations, this plant needs moist soil during its growing season. Like many of the early spring bulbs, bleeding hearts thrive under the canopy of large deciduous trees and go dormant in early summer. Free of most pests and diseases, this species rarely reseeds, but it does persist around abandoned homesteads and similar areas.

Bees love the nectar hidden within the flowers and will hang upside down to send their proboscis (the equivalent of a tongue in mammals) past the white part of the flower to gather the nectar. In so doing, they have to push their way past the pollen-containing anthers, thus ensuring the pollen reaches the female flower parts held near the nectaries.

Tulipa 'Akebono'

Double Late Tulip

Akebono double late tulip (Tulipa 'Akebono') features creamy yellow flowers with a pale green flame on the exterior petals and a red picotee (edge to the flower petals). This cultivar is a sport (genetic mutation) of Tulipa 'Jewell of Spring', which was discovered in Japan. Tulips are not reliably perennial in the Chicago area for most gardeners but make a wonderful addition to the spring garden.

Anemone coronaria 'Harmony Blue'

Harmony Blue Anemone

Anemone Harmony Blue

Large, periwinkle blue-purple petals surround the navy blue center on this marginally hardy poppy anemone. The mounded habit is comprised of finely dissected leaves, with the flowers on sturdy stems held well above. This anemone is recommended as a cool season annual in Chicago-area gardens, in shaded to full sun locations. Adventurous gardeners might be able to have them return in following years, if they plant them in a sheltered microclimate, moisture-retentive, well-drained soil.

Euphorbia palustris

Marsh Spurge

Marsh spurge (Euphorbia palustris) produces masses of chartreuse-yellow bracts (the actual flowers are not showy) on top of a perennial plant growing to 3 feet in height by 4 feet in width. Green willowlike leaves that spiral out from the stems turn bright orange and yellow in fall. This species tolerates moist soil, and dry soil later in the growing season. Deer find the milky sap objectionable; the sap also irritates the skin and eyes of gardeners.