• Japanese kerria is just one of many spring blooming plants.Carole Gomez/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  Spring is the time when animals and plants begin to wake up from winter dormancy. Food becomes more abundant and the sunlight more intense. The snow thaws, the ground becomes workable and rains nourish plant life. Springtime blooms bring color to the world after the gloom of winter. Trees, shrubs and flowers start to put on their color show. A number of plants need the moderate temperatures of spring to flower. They are usually done blossoming by the time the heat of summer hits.
  
  

Japanese Kerria

• Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica) is a 5-foot deciduous shrub that spreads 8 feet wide. This bush grows over 18 inches a year. Yellow, 1- to 2-inch flowers appear in the spring and occasionally throughout the summer. Once the leaves drop in the winter, the stems stay a green color. Japanese kerria is damaged by freezing temperatures, which cause the shrub not to produce flowers.
  
  

Nodding Trillium

• Nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum) is a woodland flower that only appears during the spring. The blossom consists of three large petals that face downward. Three large leaves shade the flower as it nods. Nodding trillium flowers appear from April until June. The plant dies back to the ground after blossoming.
  
  

Shooting Star

• Shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia) is a woodland and prairie wildflower with a down-turned flower. The yellow center is exposed as the pink or purple petals curl back. The shooting star flowers are clustered on top of a tall stem above a rosette of green leaves. The blossoms appear from April until June.
  
  

Wild Strawberries

• Wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) produce small white blossoms that look like plum tree flowers. The flowers appear from April until June with small fruits following in June and July. The leaves are grouped in threes, which hide developing fruit. Wild strawberries are found in wild grasslands, meadows and woodlands.
  
  

Winter Currant

• Winter currant (Ribes sanguineum) is a 6- to 12-foot tall deciduous shrub. This bush produces clusters of hanging flowers in the spring. The red, pink or white blossoms do not have a fragrance. The dark green leaves appear with the flowers. Later, small blueberry-like fruit follow the dying blooms.