Not much up and blooming yet here.

But here is a start....

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Sierra

A few more:
Tulipa tarda; these are fully hardy in zone 2, maybe colder, and EVERYONE should be growing them... IMHO, LOL!
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Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis); my picture doesn't do justice to their beauty. By the way, I'd love to see some pix of more established or natural growths of these. (Hint, hint... to you folks in Ontario, Minnesota, etc..)


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Another primula (I suspect it may have been labelled incorrectly, so ID is a little vague at this time, though it resembles an auricula-type?):


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Lathyrus vernus, I believe:


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A native plant, hardy up into the arctic, and in fact, circumpolar, marsh marigold, Caltha palustris:


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Lovely pictures Lori! Yes, I agree with you about Tulipa tarda, that everyone should have some :) I just noticed the first bloom on mine today, so I'm a few days behind you in blooms.

I have a question for you about bloodroot. I just received a piece of a rhyzome in the mail, and I'm wondering how far underground do they normally grow? No planting instructions came with it, and I don't want to plant too shallow or too deep.
I would also love to see an established clump of them(anybody?), and I would love to someday, get my hands on the double flowered type too!

Laurie

I planted mine fairly shallowly (1/2" - 1"?) - the rhizomes sent out by nurseries are generally pretty tiny, and I don't think you'd want to deep-six them. (Although, except for peonies, I think planting depth is hardly ever critical...as long its done within reason.) I kind of prefer the simple perfection of the natural flower form, but that's just me... you can get the double-flowered ones by mail order from Fraser's Thimble Farms, at a pretty reasonable price ($14).

Thanks for the info Lori. You're right about the nurseries sending out tiny rizomes. At first I thought they'd sent me just a package of peat moss, as it took a bit to find the tiny little guy!

Laurie

Lori, great pics, I love seeing your non-run-of-the-mill selections :0) Sierra pretty crocuses too.

I'm wondering what the recommended planting depth is for peonies now... I didn't know they were picky. I would add to that list that iris rhisomes should not be buried...

I have some more tulips blooming now. These are "Oxford's Elite" (good tulips, very vigorous and reliable)
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This is my new favourite - it came in that "Pastel Mix" LOL - what a joke. There was also dark purple in the pastel mix... so far everything but pastels...
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Nice patch of tulips there! Excellent shots of the crocuses, Sierra! With the exception of some fosteriana 'Red Emperor' tulips up by the house, ours are mostly yet to come.

Laurie, the general gardening wisdom is that, if peonies are planted with their "eyes" (i.e. growing points, usually red) too deep, they won't bloom. If you look at various references, you'll see it recommended that the eyes be anywhere from 1 inch to 2 inches below the ground surface.
Personally, I think 2 inches is a bit much, but it would be interesting to hear the experience of others on this. I just (finally) lifted a couple of non-blooming peonies early this spring, that I think were plenty mature enough to be blooming by now, and replanted them with the eyes about 1/2" down... they weren't really all that deep before - probably about 1" to 1.5" depth.

Of course, there's always the possibility that a non-blooming peony just isn't mature enough, but I'd had these for some years and had seen very few blooms on the one, and no blooms on the other yet. I don't see any buds on them yet, but perhaps I was too late to make a difference this year anyway.

Oops, sorry... the peony question was from Gillian, not Laurie. (Accckk, will I ever learn to read it over before hitting "Submit"?)

And, also, thanks for the compliments on the pictures/flowers!

abgardener I was surprized to see your marsh marigold. I`ve always seen them on the edge of small streams and such. Can I plant them in my back yard? Do they need extra water? By the way I did indicate on the "soil depth " tread that I am a new gardener. I am still like that chicken " running around the yard with his head cut off" LOL! I hope there are patient instructors out there.

Ricky