Connecticut
Where to see flowers in Connecticut this spring: 10 photo-worthy places to visit
Spring’s best blooms: 10 stunning flowering plants
Spring is almost upon us, and with that comes beautiful blossoming flowering plants and warmer weather.
unbranded – Lifestyle
Spring is finally here, and along with the season’s warmer weather, its blooming flowers are sure to brighten your day after a long, cold winter.
Luckily, Connecticut has plenty of parks, gardens and public spaces with beautiful blooms that make for the perfect spring day – and the perfect photo-op. Whether your favorite is daffodils, tulips or cherry blossoms, the state is sure to have a field of flowers for you.
Here are some of the best places to see flowers in Connecticut this spring.
Elizabeth Park
This historical Hartford park offers over 100 acres of gardens, green space, walking trails and recreational facilities. In early spring, the ten gardens of Elizabeth Park see daffodils and tulips, followed by irises and perennials in late May.
The center of Elizabeth Park is the Helen S Kaman Rose Garden, which sees its peak blooms in mid-June. With over 15,000 rose bushes and 800 varieties of roses, the garden is the third largest rose garden in the country today.
Elizabeth Park is free and open to the public.
When: Dawn to dusk daily
Where: 1561 Asylum Ave., Hartford
Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens
The Bartlett Arboretum and Gardens in Stamford has hundreds of species to explore across 20 gardens and collections, including a cottage garden, a tropical garden and a wildflower garden.
Spring blooms include bluebells, lilies and mountain laurels, Connecticut’s state flower, in over 150 forms. Admission to Bartlett is always free, but donations are welcome.
When: Dawn to dusk daily
Where: 151 Brookdale Road, Stamford
Wickham Park
With over 280 acres of gardens, Wickham Park has flowers like rhododendrons, azaleas, crocuses and lilacs separated into 10 unique themes, including a sensory garden, a lotus garden and a Scottish garden.
Along with the many beautiful flowers for viewing, the park has various woodlands, ponds, picnic areas, sports facilities and playgrounds.
Wickham Park charges entry fees by car, with prices at $7 on weekdays or $10 on weekends.
When: 9:30 a.m. until sunset starting April 5
Where: 1329 Middle Tpke. W., Manchester
Lavender Pond Farm
Killingworth’s Lavender Pond Farm is the largest lavender farm in New England, filled with over 10,000 lavender plants across 25 acres.
With no entry fee, guests can wander through the lavender fields, ride around the farm on the Lavender Express, play yard games and look through tons of lavender goods in the gift shop.
When: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday starting in spring; date TBA on Facebook
Where: 318 Roast Meat Hill Road, Killingworth
Mill River Park
Fans of cherry blossoms can head to Mill River Park in Stamford for the famous cherry tree grove, which happens to be the largest one in New England. The park is also home to over 400 other trees and wildflowers, along with bike paths, a carousel, a playground and a discovery center.
Mill River Park is free to the public.
When: 6 a.m.-10 p.m. daily
Where: 1040 Washington Blvd., Stamford
Hollister House Garden
Situated in the Litchfield hills, Hollister House Garden is an American interpretation of classic English gardens which unfolds in successive layers of space and color.
In April, Hollister house has lots of daffodils, bluebells and magnolias, and in May, forget-me-nots and tulips start to bloom. Admission to Hollister House Garden costs $10 per person.
When: 1-4 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday starting April 16
Where: 300 Nettleton Hollow Road, Washington
Hubbard Park
Each spring, Hubbard Park erupts in a vibrant display of over 600,000 daffodils of 60 different varieties. The park is the site of the annual Meriden Daffodil Festival, where the town celebrates the colorful arrival of spring with food, crafts, live music, carnival rides, a daffodil market and a giant daffodil parade.
A full schedule for this year’s festival can be found on the Daffodil Festival website.
When: May 3 from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and May 4 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where: 999 W. Main St., Meriden
Colorblends House & Spring Garden
Outside a 1903 Colonial Revival mansion in Bridgeport’s Historic District is Colorblends Spring Garden, a garden bursting with snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, tulips and various perrennials.
Though Colorblends is small at a quarter of an acre, the Dutch-designed garden is jam-packed with color and charm in creative designs. Both the house and the garden are free to visit.
When: Dawn to dusk daily from March 29 through May 11
Where: 893 Clinton Ave., Bridgeport
Harkness Memorial State Park
Stretching over 230 acres, this scenic park has beautiful views of Long Island Sound, an elegant summer mansion, picnic tables, hiking trails and multiple formal gardens.
Each of the estate’s six gardens has its own theme, from a formal Italian garden to an Alpine rock garden. Colorful blooms like daffodils and heliotropes bring the lush green space to life.
Harkness is free to enter for Connecticut residents with in-state registered vehicles. For out-of-state vehicles, admission costs $10 on weekdays or $15 on weekends. Guests can choose to wander the property on their own or join a guided tour of the mansion and formal gardens.
When: 8 a.m. to sunset daily; tours from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on summer weekends
Where: 275 Great Neck Road, Waterford
Lee Memorial Garden
This small garden in New Canaan is packed with an expansive variety of spring flowers. Azaleas, rhododendrons, bluebells, lilies, irises, hyacinths are just a few of the spring blooms that can be found in this wooded garden escape under a canopy of oak, maple and tulip trees.
Admission to the Lee Memorial Garden is always free.
When: Dawn to dusk daily
Where: 89 Chichester Road, New Canaan
New Canaan faces Cheshire in the 2025 Connecticut high school Class L football state championship on Saturday afternoon.
The game begins at 4 p.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut.
The game will stream live on the NFHS Network.
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What: Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) Class L football championship
Who: New Canaan vs. Cheshire
When: Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025
Where: Veterans Stadium in New Britain, Connecticut
Time: 4 p.m. EST
Stream: NFHS Network
Tickets: $11,50
Record, MaxPrep state rankings: New Canaan 12-0, No. 1; Cheshire 9-3, No. 11
Here’s more information about the game from the Hartford Courant, via the Tribune News Service:
New Canaan is going for its 16th state title and fourth straight under veteran coach Lou Marinelli and New Canaan outscored its playoff opponents, 85-13. Cheshire’s last finals appearance was 2009, when coach Don Drust was an assistant for the Rams’ team, which beat Staples in overtime to win a Class LL title. Cheshire rallied from a 19-point deficit against Fairfield Ludlowe to win the Class L quarterfinal game and beat Ridgefield 21-0 in the semifinals. QB Aiden Gregorich’s pass to Liam Suomala proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left in the quarterfinal.
What is the NFHS Network?
The NFHS Network covers more than 30 sports across the country. NFHS Network costs $13.99 per month or $79.99 per year.
Have you still seen a lot of mini-liquor bottles, littering the streets in Connecticut?
Members of one environmental group said they still see them, and believe a ban is the best way to solve a multi-tiered problem.
State data shows in the past 12 months, ending September 30, there were more than 93 million mini-liquor bottles sold in our state.
The group supporting local bans says it’s not just the litter, but also the fact mini-liquor bottles are easy to conceal and consume on the job, in the car, or at school.
The group “Connecticut Towns Nixing the Nip” met this week, working on strategies to get a legislative hearing on the issue in the upcoming 2026 session.
Right now, stores collect a 5-cent surcharge for every mini-liquor bottle sold, resulting in about $5 million annually for town and city environmental cleanup efforts.
Town funding from nip sales
Average revenue per year 2021 to 2025.
“Having talked to a number of towns, well a few towns, they like the money, said Tom Metzner, a member of the group. “It’s fairly broad in how it can be used. It’s environmental. It doesn’t have to be used for cleaning up nips. And so the towns have become somewhat silent on the issue of banning nips.”
The group cited Chelsea, Massachusetts, where minis are banned, both litter and alcohol related EMS calls decreased.
The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of Connecticut, which devised the “nickel per nip” program, said banning the mini-liquor bottles would be unprecedented.
Instead, it said the environmental group should be challenging municipalities to prove they actually use the money for cleanup.
Legislative leaders suggested several years ago the way to really do this is to have a redemption program for mini liquor bottles, and now, that could be possible.
At least one state with the Clynk bottle collection program has redeemed mini-liquor bottles for cash.
The company just announced a major expansion in our state, but it told us it is not aware of a redemption program for mini-liquor bottles here any time soon.
National trust in the federal government is at some of its lowest levels in nearly seven decades, and many Connecticut residents fall in line with that belief, a survey found.
New data from the Pew Research Center found only 17% of Americans believe that what the government does is right either “just about always” or “most of the time,” hitting one of the lowest points Pew has seen since first asking this question in 1958. And according to a DataHaven survey, Connecticut residents trust the federal government less than state or local institutions.
While these are some of the lowest polling numbers seen in American history, national trust in the federal government has been on the decline for decades. Public trust initially dropped in the 1960s and ’70s during the Vietnam War from a near 80% but began rising again in the 1980s into the early ’90s. Trust peaked again after 9/11 before falling.
The DataHaven survey found that of all Connecticut residents surveyed, only 9% trust the federal government “a great deal” to look out for the best interests of them and their family. About 28% trust the federal government “a fair amount.”
Federal government trust among Connecticut residents was at its highest in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal stimulus programs and child tax credit were active.
The DataHaven survey also asked about trust in local and state government. Connecticut residents generally trust these institutions more than they trust the federal government, the survey found.
Trust in the local governments was higher than trust in both state and federal, with 67% of residents surveyed trusting their local government “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”
And when it came to state government, 61% of residents trust the state “a great deal” or “a fair amount.”
However, across the board, white residents are more likely to trust local and state government than are residents of color. Black residents had higher levels of trust in government than Latino and Puerto Rican residents, but less than white residents.
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