Spring flowers bring April showers of color for Easter

The arrival of spring and the Easter holidays makes this aperfect time to celebrate by filling the house with flowering pottedplants. Bring a riot of spring color to the kitchen counter, diningroom table and winter-dulled windowsill.

Look for an exciting array of new and different flowering plantsavailable in greenhouses and garden centers.

Daisy Hill Greenhouse in Hunting Valley, Ohio, is one of theregion's foremost growers of upscale potted plants.The hardy primrose is a cheerful little plant with a tidyrosette of elongated leaves and a tuft of bright flowers in themiddle. They bloom in red, yellow, white, purple and pink. Purchaseplants with their flowers still encased in the bud. Once theblossoms open, they will last for two to three weeks.Don't discard hardy primroses when they finally fade. If youhave an outdoor garden, plant them there after the danger of frostpasses in May. They make excellent companions to tulips anddaffodils.A more flamboyant tropical Chinese cousin of the hardy primroseis Primula obconica, which has airy clouds of pink, purple, white andlavender. It will thrive in a south-facing sunny window and flowerfor months during winter or spring. Nip off the old flower clustersas new inflorescences arise from within the mantle of leaves toensure repeat bloom.Primula obconica is one plant best enjoyed from a distancewithout a lot of touching. Repeated contact with the leaves cancause an allergic rash in sensitive people.Gloxinias - with huge, velvety, vase-shaped white, blue, pinkand red flowers and furry rounded leaves - are perhaps the mostlavish of the potted spring flowers.A member of the African violet family, they require similargrowing conditions - warmth and bright indirect light. Keep the soilevenly moist when in bloom, prolonging the flowering period. Butwhen the blooms are done, let the soil dry out slightly beforewatering again, keeping the root system healthy enough to allow for afuture round of blooms.Gloxinias grow from seeds or more easily from tubers, which youcan buy in the dormant state and nurture into a blooming plant withinabout a month. If you buy a gloxinia in bloom, allow the plant tocontinue growing through the summer and into fall outdoors in lightshade.Cut the foliage back in autumn, and store the pot in a cool, drylocation for the winter. Come late winter or early spring, bring thepot back into a warm area and resume watering lightly to encouragethe tuber to resprout and bloom again.If you like the large white-flowered hydrangeas that gracesummer gardens, you'll enjoy their smaller florist cousins - pottedhydrangeas frosted with white lacecap flower clusters or large denseballs of bloom. When finished blooming, you can move the plantsoutside into a perennial garden. If the site is protected duringwinter, they may return next spring.Citrus is not just for the subtropical orchards of Florida,Texas and California. Several types of oranges and lemons makewonderful potted plants, which can live for many years if rotatedbetween a brightly lit winter window and a sunny summer patio.All are alike in growing into low bushes with glossy leaves andhaving fragrant white flowers. The varying types of fruitdramatically set them apart.Ponderosa lemons have huge, almost muscle-bound fruit that cangrow bigger than softballs and look especially dramatic when danglingfrom a modest potted bush. Prop the lemon up on an inverted clay potto give it support and keep it from tearing off shrub limbs orbreaking the plant apart. When it reaches full size and is ready toharvest, cut it open and eat it.Another worthy and compact lemon for growing in pots is `Meyer,'which produces fruit much like what you find in the grocery store.In startling contrast, the calamondin orange has tiny orangelikefruit on a fairly large, bushy tree. It can produce both flowers andfruit simultaneously during winter and early spring, providing colorand fragrance.To ensure fruit production, use a dry paintbrush to dab pollenfrom one flower to the next.Pomegranates, a tropical fruit with red skin, grows as a rarebut charming potted plant. It is a low shrub with ellipticalevergreen leaves, tubular flowers of scarlet, orange and othercolors, and plump red fruit.Put your pomegranate outdoors on the patio in summer and move itindoors for winter, providing bright light and a little insecticidalsoap to thwart white flies.The list of delightful spring flowers goes on with potted springbulbs, azaleas, lilies, fragrant herbs and more.There is something for every taste and budget.Susan McClure is a Chicago area free-lance writer.