These hauntingly beautiful flowers open for only one night a season to perfume the air with an exquisite scent and beckon their pollinating moths. Night-blooming cereus flowers are usually creamy white or sometimes red, and are native to Central and South America. Their beauty lies in their unique nighttime bloom, large, 6-inch flowers with multiple petals, and strong, sweet scent.

The small red and white flowers of the bleeding heart, dangling like a row of pendants from gracefully arching branches, lend themselves to romance and are a lovely addition to a spring garden. Bleeding hearts are native to Siberia and East Asia, and are grown worldwide in temperate zones. Their beauty derives from the unique heart shape of their charming blooms.

Tulips are native to Central Asia and were first cultivated in Persia as brightly colored, cup-shaped flowers in white, pink, red, orange, or yellow. Through the centuries, tulips have been hybridized from the simple to the complex. Breeders have developed more than 3,000 cultivars in a riot of different colors, with cup-shaped, feathered, or gracefully curved petals that are all beautiful in their diversity.

Passion flowers are beautiful in their complexity. Most species are perennial vines, native to North and South America, that bloom with an intricate whorl of petals and filaments, giving them an exotic, otherworldly look. Passion flowers come in various colors, mainly white, pink, red, blue, lavender, and purple. Their complex beauty brightens up any structure on which they climb.

True lilies, those belonging to the genus Lilium, are mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. They grow from bulbs, with some species reaching 6 feet high. Lilies are the ultimate floral symbol of purity and are significant in several of the world's religions. Their beauty is a product of the flowers' regularity of form, their rich, vibrant colors, and their overwhelmingly sweet scent.

These cousins of sweet, roadside buttercups are single flowers with a simple whorl of petals (like poppies) or double, paper-thin petals — with up to 130 overlapping — that resemble roses. Ranunculus flowers have distinctive black anthers and come in both pastel and vivid colors of white, pink, red, fuchsia, magenta, yellow, apricot, orange, and picotee (bicolor). Their rich color palette and cups of delicate petals make them a gorgeous addition to a bouquet, table arrangement, or garden.

Colorful anemones, or windflowers, sway in the breeze in temperate areas worldwide. They are single or double flowers with one to three whorls of delicate petals that come in white, pink, red, purple, or blue. Anemones add a graceful touch to a garden and are excellent cut flowers with a long vase life. Their simple, refined form and bright, clear colors contribute to their inclusion on this list.

The stylized iris, or fleur-de-lis, has been the symbol of French royalty since the 12th century, and stands for faith, hope, and wisdom. More than 300 species grow wild in Europe, Asia, and North America from either rhizomes or bulbs. The beautiful flowers are perfectly symmetrical, with distinctive standard and fall petals in blue, purple, white, or yellow. Their appeal is in the unique shape of their flowers that add a pop of color to a spring garden.

Like discs of tissue paper on tall stems, species of pretty poppies grace the temperate and chilly areas of North America, Africa, and Eurasia. They are simple flowers, with four to six delicate petals in vivid red, yellow, pink, orange, or lavender, and have long been used ornamentally as well as medicinally. They symbolize sleep, night, and remembrance, and are beautiful in their simplicity and bright colors.

The peony, the 2024 Flower of the Year, is a popular perennial, brightening up spring or early summer garden. It is native to North America, Europe, and Asia, and is the national flower of China, where it has been cultivated for centuries. Its dense, fragrant flowers in pink, red, magenta, white, or yellow against deeply lobed leaves symbolize happiness, honor, good fortune, and wealth. The bright color, fragrance, and cheerful pom-pom shape of the flowers give peonies their place as one of the most beautiful flowers in the world.