7 Must-Have Plants for Spring 2024

Turn your landscape into a stunning retreat for spring and summer. From ornamental grasses to perennials, we've rounded up seven of our top sellers to help you bring color, visual interest, and serenity to your yard. 

1. Pink Muhly Grass

Make way for this customer favorite. Pink Muhly Grass is a delicate-looking ornamental grass that forms dense clumps of upright grass-like foliage. Its dark green foliage is topped with fluffy pink plumes that bloom in late summer and fall.

This ornamental grass also acts as a host plant for several moth and butterfly species, as well as provides habitat for traveling butterflies.

Landscape design tip: Plant Pink Muhly Grass along sidewalks, driveways, and patios to make a statement. If you have the space, this grass also looks beautiful when planted in large masses to produce pink, fluffy clouds. 

2. Autumn Fern

Perfect for beginner and skilled gardeners, the Autumn Fern is a vase-shaped evergreen fern. Its frilly, papery fronds emerge copper-red in the fall and mature to dark green. It provides four seasons of interest. The fern thrives in rich, moist, acidic soils with some shade. 

Landscape Design Tip: The Autumn Fern works well for small spaces in your yard as it only spreads 1.5’ - 2.5.' It also works well as ground cover for shady borders. Excellent companion plants include Leopard Plant, Coral Bells, and Lungwort. 

3. Black Knight Butterfly Bush

The Black Knight Butterfly Bush is a branching shrub with a spreading, arching habit that can reach 6-8' tall if not cut back in late winter. It has willowy grey-green leaves and fragrant, nearly black-purple flowers that bloom in summer. As you might guess from the name, its blooms attract butterflies.  

Removing spent flowers can encourage continued blooms until frost. Best performance in sunny, well-drained areas. 

Landscape Design Tip: Plant in your wildlife garden, use as accent plants, or grow in containers. 

4. Guacamole Hosta

Make a statement with the bright Guacamole Hosta. This shade-loving herbaceous perennial is primarily grown for its foliage. These plants offer lush green foliage and beautiful white-lavender blooms that attract butterflies. 

Best color in partial sun and moist well-drained soils. These plants require full shade if grown in hot summer areas.

Landscape Design Tip: Plant Guacamole Hosta under the canopy of mature trees or in the shadow of buildings where they can enjoy the coolness of shade. Or use Guacamole Hostas to define the edges of garden paths or property lines. 

5. Miniature Gardenia

Looking for a fragrant flower? The Miniature Gardenia is a dwarf, evergreen shrub noted for its thick, glossy dark green leaves and extremely fragrant petite white flowers. These flowers either bloom throughout the year if the temperature doesn’t dip below 60 degrees F or in late spring to early summer. 

It prefers partial sun and moist, well-drained, acidic soils. 

Landscape Design Tip: The Miniature Gardenia can be used as a lovely groundcover. Or incorporate Miniature Gardenia into a woodland garden setting. They thrive under the dappled light of larger trees and alongside other shade-loving plants.

6. Florida Sunshine Anise

Incorporate bright pops of green into your landscape with the Florida Sunshine Anise. This evergreen shrub has glossy, fragrant foliage that emerges chartreuse in shade or golden yellow in full sun and brightens to hot yellow in fall, while the upper stems gain bright red hues. 

In spring, yellow flowers are followed by delightful, licorice-scented fruit. The small fruits are non-edible.

Landscape Design Tip: Use these shrubs as a privacy screen due to their dense growth habit. Plant them near the foundation of your home to add year-round interest with minimal maintenance.

7. Penny Mac Hydrangea

Bursting with color, the Penny Mac Hydrangea is a deciduous shrub that blooms on new wood and can produce a second bloom if pruned after the first one. Its large mophead clusters' bloom color depends on the soil PH. Acidic soils produce blue flowers, while alkaline soils produce pink flowers.

The lush flowers attract butterflies. It blooms best in partial sun and in rich, moist, well-drained soils.  

Landscape Design Tip: Plant Penny Mac Hydrangeas in groups to create a stunning visual impact. If you have limited space, consider growing Penny Mac Hydrangeas in large containers. This allows you to control the soil pH more easily to achieve the desired flower color.

Plant this spring

Want more must-have plants to grow this spring? Shop our Top Products Collection for all of our customer favorites.