Yes, Spring is coming...

About this time of year, I start to think that Spring will never come again.  Maybe that's why there are crocus ~ to remind me that, yes, there is hope.  These yellow crocus are starting to close up for the evening.  They are growing in a tub near the lavender crocus I blogged about in the last post.

Today I found my first daffodils of the year.  These are short Tete a Tete daffodils.  So cute!  So charming!

And Muscari!!!  You know I am excited about seeing these blooms!

A lovely yellow Johnnie for you.

 Have a beautiful day!

Hello, again...

Well, it's been awhile, hasn't it? 

 I've been desperate for spring and look what I found today!

 These crocus are growing in a low tub underneath some trees.

 And soon there will be more.

 Have a beautiful day!

Tulip kaufmanniana...

O.K. As I promised several days ago, here is the name of that tulip. It is Tulip kaufmanniana 'Stresa.' And, yes, I have more pictures of it. I bought the bulbs in the fall in a pack that also contained purple Crocus and the two together were marketed as "Mardi Gras Mix." The combination in reality turned out to be a lot prettier than it looked on the package.




Not having a bed prepared for them, I stuck them in this container with, of course, my Johnnies for the winter. Now they make quite a stunning vignette at the bottom of the steps leading to the back door and the deck. The detail in the Tulips is amazing. You can click on the pictures for a larger view.




I wanted Tulip kaufmanniana because they will naturalize if they are happy with their living conditions. (T. kaufmanniana also comes in other colors.) Now I just have to convince these Tulips that they actually live in a place with cold winters and dry summers. I think I will do o.k. on the cold winters, but it will take a little more work to make the humid, rainy summers palatable for these guys. What I do for plants, huh?



Have a beautiful day!

More flowers...

Beautiful things are starting to happen in my garden. Would it be o.k. to add the word “finally” here? I wouldn’t sound too impatient or exasperated, would I? I guess Winter is a good thing, right? To make sure we fully appreciate Spring?




Not only are some of my yellow crocus blooming, but now K’s purple ones are blooming, too. These flowers were open yesterday and hadn’t yet reopened for today when I took the picture. I thought the purple rolls of petals were so pretty.




My Hyperion daylilies are starting to come up. I love the new plants emerging from the soil. Each time another one of my plants starts to show growth, I heave a sigh of relief, knowing that it has made it through the Winter.




These Tête-à-tête daffodils are the first of my daffodils to bloom. Their yellow is too bright for my poor little camera, but they sure are charming in the garden bed.


Have a beautiful day!

Crocus and False Crocus...

It's official! My crocus has bloomed! Yipee!!! They mark the very first, outside, on-their-own, flowers of the new gardening year. I think I should throw a party or something!




And there are more buds on the way for more sunny crocus flowers.



On Friday, I went to the Plant Delights Nursery Open House and found another treasure. Well, actually several more. Do you know how hard it is to not bring all the plants home? I had already blown the plant budget for the day, o.k., for the week, make that month, when bright yellow flowers in one of the greenhouses caught my eye as I was walking past. I might have been able to resist had they not been fragrant. I am a sucker for fragrance. There was another plant that I really wanted, also, (I guess there were actually dozens of plants I wanted), but the false crocus won out because it was perfuming the air.

{Nothoscordum sellowianum}

The false crocus has beautiful black lines down the outside.




And it is smaller than the true crocus. But it is fragrant.

Have a beautiful day!

Columbine & crocus...

So, today I wandered outside to see what might be happening in my garden that I could blog about. One of the first things I noticed was that the air was different, almost as if it knows that things are going to change soon. And the plants - it seems as if they are crouching, waiting to jump out and yell, "Surprise!" I found that my columbine plants are putting out gorgeous new purple leaves. I love columbines. These were brought to me by my mom several years ago.




But the most exciting thing I discovered was a yellow crocus about to bloom. I guess I hadn't looked where it grows in a while, because I had no idea it was this close to flowering. I'll go look again tomorrow and see if it is open. You can expect a picture in the next day or two - if the possible snow forecast for tomorrow doesn't harm the blossoms.


Have a beautiful day!

Chickie update