Chinese witch hazel. Sometimes starts up in December. Grevillea victoriae blooms fall through spring. This year in the Camano Island garden the inflorescences and foliage were damaged by cold, but it was business-as-usual with those near Seattle. I look out my office window at them, where during sun breaks the "beards" of the male Anna's hummingbird light up while they are attending the grevillea flowers.

One year I noticed the latter planting flowering through May and then resuming in August.

Sarcococca Sweet Box is blooming now. What a heavenly scent! Must buy more of these.

I have winter aconites, snowdrops, species crocus, cyclamen coum, sarcoccca, a species lungwort and hellebores all blooming now. It's very pretty when the sun is out. Spring can't be too far away.

I've got Hellebores blooming and some grocery store primroses that have been perennials for me. Also several ericas.

I've been tracking bloom dates for three years, and the Indian plums have always bloomed during the last two weeks of February.

Before the plums I've seen:
Hellebores
Sarcococca
Witchhazel
Winter-blooming Mahonia like 'Charity'
Heaths, like 'Kramer's Rote' and 'Darley Dale'

I like to go down to the nursery and walk around to see what winter bloomers they're selling.

I don't have a witchhazel but saw a gorgeous one in the parking strip garden at Portland Nursery the other day. It glowed. My sarcococca isn't quite there yet neither is my daphne odora but both are budded.

I've got some of those perennial violas that look like annual pansies blooming too. Can't remember the cultivar.

In my garden the Helleborus niger started before (approx. Christmas time) the Helleborus orientalis (or whatever its hybrid name is) and I also have Cyclamen hederafolium and Daphne laureola which is rather a weed, but smells nice in the evening.

My Hellebores have been blooming for over a month here, the regular English Primroses for a couple weeks along with the Victorian Lace Primrose. The Sarcococco Sweet Box is in full bloom and don't know when it started. I will watch it more closely next year. *G* My crocus started blooming several days ago...and..the surprise for me...my Christmas Cheer Rhodie just bloomed its first bloom of the year!~

Thanks for this post..I will be buying some of the early bloomers mentioned here.

My hellebores (3 of them) helleborus niger 'Josef Lemper' all always bloom before Christmas. This year they spent two weeks blooming under a few feet of snow! But the snow melted and they were still blooming.

I have four erica 'Brightness,' and the blooms are half -way up on those now.

I have a bunch of so charming iris reticulata blooming now. Next up will be my edgeworthia chrysantha 'Gold Rush' and the deep pink camellias next to it. They bloom at the same time. I get more comments from neighbors and passers-by about my edgeworthia than any other plant in my garden It blooms for a long time too! I'm coveting Edgeworthia papyrifera 'Rubra," but where to put it? I need more space! Picture: http://www.tinytreasuresnursery.com/Plant%20Pages/Edgeworthia%20p%20Rubra.htm

The Indian plum is usually the first native shrub to bloom, although mine are not out yet. I did see some on campus at TESC blooming in the woods near the beach just yesterday, but warmer microclimate than my more-inland west Oly garden. I also saw skunk cabbage emerging last weekend, at Tolmie state park, right on the transition from beach to forest.

For garden plants, the hellebore and species crocus are the first to bloom, and are blooming now. I also have a few English daisies blooming, these plants are several years old. I don't count the primroses from Top purchased in bloom.

The alders and hazelnuts are putting out their catkins getting ready to bloom. Time to make sure I'm supplied with antihistamines.

My sarcococca is blooming...leaves on the hardy cyclamen look good, but no blooms yet. I need to get out and check the indian plum.

I have a Rhododendron that was called 'Olive' in a trade about 25 years ago. It begins to bloom in the third week of February. The trusses are small and usually suffers from a frost or two each year, but the color is worth it to me this time of year. I'm in the foothills near Maple Valley and about two weeks behind Seattle for blooming times.

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Thanks botann, love the blue sky too and the flowers look just fine! You could even pretend that winter is over for a brief moment.

Brief moment is right. We got about an inch of snow last night with the arrival of a cold front. Winter is not over yet. I'm sure March will have it's usual surprises.
I managed to take this picture before the snow arrived. It looks almost tropical.
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Same Rhododendron, different view.

Botann: What a beautiful picture! Thanks

Depends what one considers ''first''. I have a plum colored hellebore that starts blooming before Xmas, sometimes even end of November. It clumps up fast and is unfazed by division. I have hundreds of clones in my garden with 10-30+ blooms each. They started just before Xmas this season. Then got covered with the 40 inches of snow tween Dec 24 and New Year's we had. Once the snow melted they were still going strong. They will be blooming well into mid spring. Just divided a handful of small plants into 63 divisions to put in the new creek ravine garden. Other hellebores blooming for the last couple weeks as well.

The Galanthus Elwesii were late this year not blooming til Feb, soon followed by an unknown double nivalis and then the ordinary nivalis. I am cursed with THOUSANDS of snowdrops, but they are pretty.

Cyclamen coum started blooming in early January. The magentas are quite pretty with the plum hellebores and galanthus. There's hot pink, pale pink and some white too. Coming up thru the brown leaves- very appealing

Hellebore foetidus has been blooming for a couple months now. Thanks to the 40 inch snow dump, they aren't looking very attractive, but they are trying.

Orange Jelena witchhazel has had flowers for the last month. And the Hazelnuts, Corylus spp have had their catkins blooming for a couple months now. Yellow hamamelis starting now, but not happy looking.

Crocus out in the past week and hepaticas about 10 days ago... though the herd of venison soon discovered the hepaticas and cleaned them of their foliage. One day that shotgun is gonna do more than scare coyotes!

Judy,

Tell me about your edgeworthia, I've actually been thinking about one of each so if you don't have room what say you buy rubra and I'll plant it for you :-) I'm assuming by your post that it's going to bloom in March? Is that normal for you or would it normally have bloomed in Feb ? I know all my camelias are really late this year. My 'Grandiflora' is just now popping and my 'Marie Bracie' will be soon to follow but all my others are still a ways off.

Before I buy the 'Gold Rush' are there any care details I should know about other than what I can find in little blurbs online?

My Cyclamen coum were probably the first things to bloom followed by the snowdrops. I also have Sarcoccocca, Ericas, daffodils, crocus, and reticulated iris. My double, cream colored primroses are blooming, too. My hellebores are just babies (25 cent seedlings from the Latvian bazaar), so they won't bloom this year. My Sasanquah camellia 'Yuletide' didn't like being moved twice last year, so it took this year off. Actually, it looks like hell. If it doesn't recover I will replace it with Rhododendron strigillosum. R. strigillosum has blood red flowers in February (also interesting hairy stems). I have made an effort to have things like Cornus sanquinea 'Midwinter Fire' and Acer circinatum 'Pacific fire' that give me winter color even without flowers. There are also some wonderful callunas that turn color in the winter. R.'Cilipinensis' is starting to open as is a trillium my sister gave me. I don't know what kind it is. It's not the local native.

Just when I thought, during the cold dreary, rainy, snowy and windy weather, "I cannot wait for spring". I walk outside to find blooming hellebore. Then a couple days later Siberian iris then crocus and daffodils. The tulips and camellias should be next. The buds on the dogwood tree are looking promising too. It finally seems that spring is upon us.