Striking, riveting, brilliant blue flowers grace this selection in early May, nearly covering its uniquely small, elongated, shiny foliage. Compact, mounded landscape form is easy to work with and looks good year round, even in winter as its foliage takes on a decidedly reddish-bronze hue.

A lovely old garden favorite for the edge of a shady path or border. Its long leaves are lavishly dappled with silvery spots that glow brightly from early spring till hard frost. The graceful clusters of rosy buds open to flowers that start pink and age to deep blue. Use a grouping of ‘Mrs. Moon’ to create an attractive ground cover. Grow in soil that stays moist (not wet) and is rich in organic matter.

Brighten up any shade garden with this early blooming perennial that is as reknown for its foliage as its bloom. Leaves emerge from the ground as the weather warms in late March forming a mound of long, narrow, deep green, spade-shaped foliage offset by an array of white spots that make the leaves look like they just have emerged from a passing paint shower! The foliage serves as the backdrop for stems of small, deep blue to pink, bell shaped flowers that rise above the mound in late April and continue through May. ‘Bertram Anderson’ is one of those indispensible plants for a shade garden that thrive where other plants falter…it looks fantastic in groups at the front of any garden and will give you months of foliage viewing pleasure. While many Lungworts are powdery mildew prone, this is one of the most resistant giving you even more reason to enjoy them!

Unique salmon pink buds transition to rich blue flowers. Silver speckling dusts the green leaves. Its attractive foliage can be enjoyed after the spring flowers are finished.

This enticing shade perennial will make you want to dance with its striking blooms and unique foliage. Starting in mid-spring, dainty light periwinkle blue flowers cover a low, mounded habit. After the flowers fade, you can enjoy its dark green leaves that twinkle with silver. This underused and under appreciated beauty will thrive in moist shade to part shade, adding bright spring color to even the darkest garden areas.

Hosta may be the king of mid spring to fall shade foliage plants but Pulmonaria make a strong case for being the ruler of the early to mid spring garden for foliage and will hold their own in the shade garden even after those Hosta unfurl. ‘Trevi Fountain’ exhibits all the gifts that make Pulmonaria so valuable in the shade landscape with long, strap-like foliage that is deep green and heavily spotted with irregular silver blotches. Unlike Hosta, ‘Trevi Fountain’ doesn’t overpower you with massive size and texture, it soothes you with its cool foliage, finer texture and ability to fill a much lower, spreading space in the garden. A bigger bonus may be its resrained yet still spectacular spring bloom. Like all Pulmonaria, ‘Trevi Fountain’ sends out a short flower stalk that stands just above its foliage as it emerges in early to mid April bearing buds that soon open to considerably sized, funnel shaped, cobalt blue flowers that stay in bloom from mid April through late May. ‘Trevi Fountain’ is perfect for grouping, thrives in partial sun to full shade and wants deep, rich, moist soils to put on its tasteful yet significant show.

This plant has many great features once you get beyond the common name! It is an under used, tremendous plant that adds foliage and flowering interest all season in the garden. Rounded mounds of foliage attractively splashed with large sparkling silver flecks are unusual and a topic of many admiring questions! The flowers are great for the spring garden, arising in mid-April and lasting into May. The flowers cover the foliage and open a pale, shining blue and mature to paler hues of blue. Flowers, foliage, and its shade loving nature make this plant a “must have.”

Belarina® Primroses are classic English Garden and at the same time, Nouveau in breeding and genetics. The sterile flowers mean more energy going to create the huge, long blooming double flowers that make Belarina® so desirable. Lively Lilac is soft and fragrant with ruffled double blooms of an exciting combination of purple and white, a welcomed site at the end of a long, cold winter!

Belarina® Primroses are true harbingers of spring, in all the vibrant colors of the rainbow, and oh, so welcome after the cold dreariness of a long winter. ‘Blue Champion’ boasts sweetly fragranced double blossoms of a clear, rich blue. The sterile flowers ensure that all the work is going into producing more prolific and sizable blooms instead of seeds, creating dazzling early spring bursts of incredible color.

Performance is this sweet groundcover’s strong point with rapidly growing, deep green foliage forming a dense, horizontal mat quickly and efficiently. Better yet, Pratia doesn’t skimp on looks with a continual show of starry, dark blue flowers framed against deep green foliage starting in May and continuing right through the summer.