Creating a landscape that showcases abundant, colorful plants in the spring requires some advance planning. First, you must decide which flowers, shrubs or trees you want to feature in your landscaping design. Planting times vary from one species to another depending on your landscape garden sunlight patterns, and your local climate will also make a difference in the appropriate planting times for species that bloom in the spring. Grass seeds can be planted in early spring in many regions to create a healthy lawn.

If you've just started planning your garden and it's already March or April, it's not too late to add colorful plants to your front or back yard. Consider brightening your landscape with annual bedding flowers that can be planted quickly and easily over a weekend. After summer ends, you can add bulbs and other varieties that must be planted in the fall in order to produce blooms by spring time.

Planting Bulbs

Bulbs can be a beautiful addition to any landscape, adding lasting strokes of color to your design. Bright tulips, hyacinths, irises or daffodils can create vivid borders around a patio or deck, or provide vibrant, fragrant edging along the walkways to your home. Once bulbs have been planted, these perennial flowers will return year after year to grace your landscaping designs.

Many of the most popular bulbs must be planted in the fall -- as early as September, in some regions of the country -- in order to flower in early spring. Planting should be planned around the bulb's growth cycle and your local climate conditions. Because these flowers can be costly, it's worth your time and money to plan your beds carefully before you purchase and plant your bulbs.

As you plan your garden, alternate bulbs that bloom in early spring with perennials or annuals that bloom later in the summer. Staggering your planting will ensure that you and your family can enjoy color throughout the warmer months. Summer blooming flowers can be interplanted with the bulbs in the same beds, but it's best to have a visual record of where the bulbs are planted to avoid disrupting their growth cycle.

Springtime Planting

If flowers have already started to bloom in your neighborhood and you haven't started planning your own spring garden, it's not too late to brighten and enliven your home's exterior with annual flowers. Many of the most common annuals can be planted from seeds in early spring when the weather is warm and surprise frosts are not likely to occur. Annual flowers bloom, produce seeds and die within their yearly growth cycle, but if enough seeds are produced, you may find flowers of the same species recurring year after year.

Your local nurseries can provide flats of colorful annuals that can easily be planted in border gardens to brighten up your patio or driveway. Depending on the variety and your regional climate, you can generally find annuals that may be planted throughout the warmer months. Spring is the best time to start planting from seed, but packs of blooming plants may be placed in your landscaping design throughout the growing season.

Many species of trees and shrubs must be planted in the fall or in the early spring. Woody plants have a longer growth cycle, and flowering species may not produce blooms immediately. Annual flowers can add color and texture to areas of your landscape that have been designated for shrubs or hedges while these plants are growing. The type of plant, its ideal growing conditions, the local soil and weather conditions all play important roles in determining when to begin planting for spring.