Martha's Gardens Are in Bloom for Early Spring—See What's Popping Up

When Martha bought her Bedford farm back in 2000, it was just empty fields with a few trees. Today, it's blooming with a variety of flowers, including magnolias and "lots and lots of daffodils," she shared in a recent blog post about the early spring season showings.

Growing as large shrubs or trees, magnolias produce fragrant flowers that can be white, pink, red, purple, or yellow and may be bowl- or star-shaped. Last year, Martha planted a variety of magnolia trees known as "Black Tulip," thanks to their fragrant, dark purple tulip-shaped flowers, which are now popping up in her gardens.

Another seasonal beauty, Virginia bluebells are a perennial native to North America. Its buds are pink, but the flowers bloom blue. The versatile flower can grow in any garden and blooms in early to mid-spring and will continue blooming through early to mid-summer. Martha says these plants grow best in deep to partial shade and moist, well-drained, rich soil. Because they self-seed, you'll find more in your garden every spring.

A hardy ground cover, the wood anemone is an early-spring flowering plant from the buttercup family with cheerful blooms. In addition to these white blooms, Martha also has grape hyacinth, a perennial that sprouts stalks of dense, usually blue, urn-shaped flowers that look like bunches of grapes.

In Martha's vegetable garden, there are beds of blooming tulips, a springtime favorite. The tulip bulbs are planted in the fall and come back year after year. A standout from her garden includes the Tulip 'Sanne,' which has elegantly tapered flowers that open with deep rose-pink and creamy-pink edges. As the flower matures, it turns lilac-pink with pink-ivory edges.

In addition to the magnolia trees, Martha's weeping cherry trees and their cascading branches are currently filled with petals. Located outside her horse stable, the trees are "eye-catchers," Martha says. When in bloom, the weeping cherry flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Along one side of Martha's farm is a handful of azaleas. Of all the shrubs that flower in spring, azaleas provide some of the most brilliant displays, she says. She has hundreds planted across multiple properties.

Also blooming on Martha's farm this spring are snowflakes, which are much taller than snowdrops and normally have more than one flower per stem. One of Martha's more unusual flowers, the snake’s head fritillary features pendant, bell-shaped, checkered, and veined flowers that are either maroon or ivory-white with grass-like foliage.

Martha has yellow trout lilies planted in a bed by her chicken coops, with many more growing in the nearby woodland. Also nearby is a blooming primrose, a vibrant perennial that's known for its early blooms that come in shades of yellow, pink, purple, and red. According to Martha, primrose thrives in cool temperatures and does well in garden beds, borders, and containers.