Here are the best places to check out spring blooms in Massachusetts

Mark Herz: This is GBH’s Morning Edition.

If you’ve been enjoying the daffodils and magnolias, cherry trees and grape hyacinths popping lately and getting excited by the buds swelling up, we have some expert advice on what’s next in the world of blooms, and where some of the best places are to take them in.

Joining us now is Karen Daubmann, the garden and programs director at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley. It’s the oldest formally organized horticultural institution in the U.S. And they have some lovely flowers of their own, as we’ll hear. Good morning, Karen.

Karen Daubmann: Good morning, I’m happy to be here.

Herz: We’re happy to have you. Let’s dig right in — and we will have links later on our website. I want to know what your picks are for some of the not-to-be-missed spring flowerings around the state?

Daubmann: There’s so much to see and do. And we’re really lucky; it’s been a rough winter, so I think everybody needs to get outside and get some fresh air and take it all in. And depending on where you live, you’re going to have quite a spectrum of what’s available to you for springtime right now. So I live a little bit south, and we’ve got forsythias and viburnums and other things happening. W

e’re pretty lucky right now to be in Eastern Massachusetts, and we’ve got our garden at Elm Bank, and Wellesley’s got a lot going on. We’ve got all the trustees’ properties, especially the Stevens Coolidge House and Gardens have a daffodil and tulip festival — that’s probably beginning of May. Also their property, Long Hill House and Garden in Beverly, they have an incredible rhododendron collection. I’m a big fan also of the Arnold Arboretum. They have an incredible collection of trees. If you’ve never been, you need to check it out. But one of my favorite times to visit there is for the lilac festival. And that’s just like fragrance and color and beauty, and just a wonderful sort of stroll around and really get your nose into those flowers and sniff them and have a great day. You feel better afterwards.

Herz: What else might people bend over and stick their nose into to get a nice little shot of spring?

Daubmann: A lot of the tulips have fragrance. Some of the daffodils have fragrance. Sometimes overwhelming, but I enjoy the hyacinths [that] are incredibly fragrant. I have some viburnum that’s just about to flower at my house that smells amazing. So I made sure to plant it right near the back door of the house, that way when we’ve got the screen open, you can have the scent come inside. Really, there’s so much going on.

Herz: You mentioned tulips. I know that you guys have 75,000 bulbs waiting to pop. Is that right?

Daubmann: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if "waiting to pop" is a technical term, but we do say that. So we’re a little behind. I think everyone’s slightly behind for this season. So the past two years that we’ve had Tulip Mania, we have basically opened April 15th to May 15th for that event. But we are not really seeing the buds just yet. So we are waiting for buds to pop.

We have two different areas. We have a more designed, more formal garden situation that people can walk through when they first arrive and see some really great combinations and different color palettes. And then as they meander through the gardens, they’ll see other things in flower. We’ve got this beautiful Italian garden full of daffodils. We’ve got a lot of foxgloves and poppies and very cool pansies planted. And then we have a sort of field agriculture program with more tulips, where people can pick their own tulips and take them home. It’s like a little bit of a scavenger hunt. You’re finding your way through the gardens, but as you’re doing it, you’re getting your steps in and there’s so much to see and do.

Herz: Also, I was just wondering, you know, we’re talking about these big showy things. What about somebody who’s just, say, walking their dog or to the T or, you know — what could people just look out in their neighborhoods for in the coming days and weeks as signs of spring?

Daubmann: One of the first things that gets us all excited is hellebores. So we have, um, hellebores growing in the garden and that’s something that you’ll probably see out. It’s a good shade plant. Often you see them in shades of maroon. It’s sort of a low, maybe 6 inch high, big flowers, big leaves. So there’s a lot of hellebores out there. I think people are going to start seeing very early rhododendrons and azaleas, especially rhododendron mucronulatum has a very striking pink. I’ve seen those while driving — I drive about at least an hour each way to go to work, and every day it seems to be a different route through different neighborhoods depending on the traffic. And that’s how I like to point out my favorite trees along the way.

Herz: Are there places where people can go see stuff and then find out they can actually buy it there too? Same place?

Daubmann: One of the best public gardens that has a great spring plant sale is the Native Plant Trust. So a lot of my colleagues and coworkers are drooling over the list that was put out of what is going to be included in that plant sale. So check out their website, especially if you’re interested in native plants. They have stuff that spans the entire season that you can add to your garden. I’ve also been to the Lyman Greenhouse, which is a historic New England property, and they have some really incredible houseplants and orchids and really cool old-fashioned begonias that you can’t get other places. So yes, I think if you’re looking for special things, weird things, odd things, you can find it through public garden shops and plant sales, and also all the nurseries are coming to life this time of year. So you can stop at a nursery, ask some questions, figure out what you like. If you see it in your commute and it’s flowering, that’s likely going to be something you can find to add to your garden at a local nursery.

Herz: Karen Daubmann with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Thanks for all the fun advice.

Daubmann: Thank you.

Herz: This is GBH.