A Flower for Every Month

 

A question was recently posed about finding 12 native flowers to paint. Of course, that made me think of a calendar and flowers that might bloom in each of the 12 months of the year. Given the size of Georgia – from the northern counties in the mountains to the southern counties near Florida – it shouldn’t be a surprise that we could have something bloom in every month of the year, even the winter ones.

While I'm in the metro Atlanta area, this post includes a few plants that would be in the southern part of the state. Note: flower to the left is Rudbeckia fulgida which is a late spring or early summer native perennial.

January: In northern Georgia, it is not unusual to find the tiny Hepatica americana (syn. H. nobilis var. obtusa) blooming where it is nestled up close to large tree trunks and somewhat protected. You can read more about it in a January 2013 post that I did. You might also find this in parts of the Coastal Plain, but for south Georgia I want to highlight Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) which can start in January and go for several months.

February: Trout lily (Erythronium umbilicatum) has to be my choice for February. I have written about it several times, once for north Georgia and once for the fantastic population in south Georgia at Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve.

March: Spring ephemerals are in full swing in this month but the one I think of the most is bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). It is featured in a number of previous blog entries about spring wildflowers, but this is a good one.

L-R: Hepatica, Trout Lily, Bloodroot

April: Another busy floral month but I always think of native azaleas when I think of April. Two of my early favorites with good statewide distribution are Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron canescens) and Florida flame azalea (R. austrinum), both of which are wonderfully fragrant (why not get double duty out of your plants with beauty and fragrance?). Read more about native azaleas here.

May: This month finishes up spring plants and starts to move us into summer. The hydrangeas start to bloom and oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is the most well-known native one. There are certainly a lot of other May shrubs I could have chosen, but oakleaf hydrangea is worthy of its selection for May.

June: Milkweed has to be one of the 12 and the pink species Asclepias incarnata is certainly a popular one in Georgia. It is one of the later ones to bloom for me so June is a good month for it. There are approximately 20 other species of milkweed in Georgia.

L-R: Piedmont azalea, oakleaf hydrangea, swamp milkweed

July: In this month, temperatures rise and there seems to be a little bit of a lull in what's blooming. That allows blooming plants like sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) to really shine and it is my choice for this month. I have written about it many times, including my posts about double-duty trees as well as underused native trees.

August: I've got to feature one of our latest-flowering beebalms and the new 2023 Plant of the Year: spotted beebalm (Monarda punctata). It probably blooms earlier in south Georgia but in my area late summer is its time.

September: Goldenrod is one of my favorite native perennials; we have quite a few species and they are so important to wildlife. Gray goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) is the one I'll choose for its clumping habit and beautiful form. Here is one of my earliest blogs about goldenrod.

L-R: Sourwood, spotted beebalm, gray goldenrod

October: What would fall be without our native asters? Dull and disappointing to many, many insects! Learn about them, appreciate them, plant them in your landscape! Even those tiny white ones.

November: If you've not heard about our fall-blooming witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana), let me be the one to encourage you to seek it out. We found beautiful patches up it blooming at Vogel State Park in November.

December: The blooms in December depend a bit on whether we get early cold spells but I have seen both soapwort gentian (Gentiana saponaria) and climbing aster (Ampelaster carolinianus) blooming in December. In the south, reports of tickseed sunflowers (such as Bidens laevis) are common.

L-R: Georgia aster, witch-hazel, soapwort gentian