What’s Beautiful This Season

Below are some plants that are especially interesting or typically in bloom this season at Duke Gardens.

Every year unfolds differently, depending on seasonal weather conditions. For an idea of plants you may wish to seek out this week, please download our “What’s Beautiful Now” map.

What's Beautiful Now Map

Spring Highlights

Evergreen needles of Duke Gardens plum yew.

‘Duke Gardens’ Plum Yew

Cephalotaxis harringtonia
'Duke Gardens'

A row of dwarf boxwood plants in a formal garden.

‘Little Missy’ Boxwood

Buxus microphylla
‘Little Missy’

About a dozen coral pink azalea flowers in a close-up with a soft-focus background.

Rhododendron

A trained weeping bald cypress over a staircase.

Bald Cypress (Weeping)

Taxodium distichum
‘Cascade Falls’

Close-up of four white bloodroot flowers with yellow centers, amid brown pine straw and fallen brown leaves.

Sanguinaria canadensis

Leafy foliage of cast iron plant.

Cast Iron Plant

Aspidistra elatior

Close-up of multi-toned pink rhododendron flowers with green leaves and a green soft-focus background.

Catawba Rhododendron

Rhododendron catawbiense

A cluster of three rounded evergreen cryptomeria trees in a snowy landscape

Chapel View™ Japanese Cedar

Cryptomeria japonica
‘PIICJ-I’ Chapel View™

Low-growing clumps of Cherokee sedge in a woodland setting.

Carex cherokeensis

Green China fir foliage with yellow pollen catkins at the tips.

Cunninghamia lanceolata

Bright yellow Chinese dogwood flowers on a bare branch.

Chinese Cornel Dogwood

Cornus officinalis

Pink Chinese fringe flower in bloom.

Chinese Fringe Flower

Loropetalum chinense

Close-up of a red peony flower with a soft-focus background of green trees.

Paeonia

White peony flowers

Chinese Tree Peony

Paeonia
‘Dojean’

Coast redwood foliage and developing cones.

Sequoia sempervirens

Columbine flower

Aquilegia canadensis

Cutleaf toothwort flowers

Cut-leafed Toothwort

Cardamine concatenata

Close-up of three yellow daffodil flowers with orange centers, and deep green leaves below.

Narcissus

Trunk of dawn redwood tree in a grassy lawn.

Metasequioa glyptostroboides

Close-up of white cherry blossoms and pink buds, with more blossoms in soft focus in the background.

Daybreak Ornamental Cherry

Prunus × yedoensis
'Akebono'

Close-up of a delicate bright yellow flower with green speckled leaves, surrounded by brown leaves and pine straw.

Dimpled Trout-lily

Erythronium umbilicatum

Close-up of delicate white and pink flowers, with twisting branches in a soft-focus background.

Dwarf Fuji Cherry

Prunus incisa
‘Kojo-no-mai’

Bicolor needles of dwarf tigertail spruce.

Dwarf Tigertail Spruce

Picea
‘Howell’s Dwarf’

Eastern redbud flowers.

Cercis candensis

Open meadow full of epimedium in bloom

Epimedium
'Amber Queen'

Close-up of pink Epimedium flowers

Epimedium sutchuenense

False rue-anemone flowers

False Rue-Anemone

Enemion biternatum

Close-up of dozens of pale pink flowers and hot pink buds on a tree.

Flowering Crabapple

Malus

Flowering dogwood blooms.

Flowering Dogwood

Cornus florida

Pink flowering plum blossoms with a soft focus background.

Prunus mume

Close-up of purple grape hyacinth flowers

Muscari spp.

Close-up of two blooming hyacinth plants, each with groups of white flowers on it and deep green leaves, with woodchips and shrubs in the background.

Hybrid Hyacinth

Hyacinthus orientalis

A Japanese black pine in a Japanese garden.

Japanese Black Pine

Pinus thunbergii

Close-up of a deep purple iris with white and purple fringed edges along the petals, with more flowers in soft focus in the background.

Japanese Roof Iris

Iris tectorum

Rolled needles of Korean fir.

Abies koreana
'Silberlocke'

Lilac daphne flowers

Daphne genkwa

Red sessile trillium

Little sweet betsy

Trillium cuneatum

Purple Loebner magnolia flower with a soft focus background.

Loebner Magnolia

Magnolia × loebneri

Close-up of tree trunk with red strips of peeling bark.

Paperbark Maple

Acer griseum

Close-up of red pawpaw flower.

Asimina trilobata

Blue rosemary flowers and foliage.

Salvia rosmarinus (Rosmarinus officinalis) 

Purple magnolia flowers breaking bud

Saucer Magnolia

Magnolia × soulangeana
'Alexandrina'

Shagbark hickory trunk

Shagbark Hickory

Carya ovata

Close-up of a deep pink flower with willowy pteals and narrow green leaves.

Rhododendron linearifolium

Close-up of spotted geranium flower.

Spotted Geranium

Geranium maculatum

White hawthorn blossoms and green leaves.

Washington Hawthorn

Crataegus phaenopyrum

White dogwood flowers with bright green leaves.

Weeping Kousa Dogwood

Cornus kousa
'Lustgarten'

Close-up of pink weeping peach flowers.

Prunus persica
'Crimson Cascade'

Expand your plant knowledge by checking out our Garden Talk series, searching our plant highlights and following us on social media.

Questions about what’s beautiful this season?

Please contact us at 919-684-3698 or gardens@duke.edu.