Well, I'm totally upset about the armadillo digging up the tree peony. I don't have one now. But my hyacinths and hellebores are keeping pace with yours. One upmanship strikes again, Beerhog. But are your daffodils blooming?? Mine are.

Beerhog, As usual your pictures are awesome.Do you not have any any dafodils? if not I'll bring you some to a swap or send some. Mine are blooming too.
Vickie

Always glad to see your photos. I have buds on my daffodils that are planted next to the house and buds on my hellebores but no flowers yet.

My daffies are blooming also. No blooms on the hellebores yet but just got them last fall. The hycaniths are on the way also. Havent checked the tree peony. Spring is just around the corner and comin down the drive . Judy

Beerhog.. Your pictures are so pretty! I tried to cut my peony tree to share with other people. I KILLLL IT! OOPS.. I could see your daylilies sprouts too.. Yahoo.. The spring is coming. I am looking foward to it very much!

Kaye.. Oh.. the armadillo came and digged into your flower. I had the armadillo problems last year. They digged allover my raised bed daylilies. They torned up the cardboard, and did not damaged daylilies. I called the Wild Animal Game. I talked with man. He was laughing at me. I told him it is not funny! He was realized that I was so serious about it. He told me it is very hard to trap them alive. Sighs.. I hope they did not come back again this year.

Great pix, Beerhog. I have some tiny hellebore sprouts from where I planted seed last summer. I've never had hellebores before, How tall is that hellebore in your pic?

Had armadillo probs last year. I put out the beneficial nematodes last Sept....so anxious to see if they killed the grubs that the armadillos were digging for. Will report the results.

well looking yesterday daffodills are up but not blooming yet. tulips are coming up and daylillies just starting to sprout here in sw mo

Beautiful pictures.Thanks for sharing them.Love the color of the hellebore.Do you know the variety.Mine have buds and there are daffodil buds and lots of things are up.Its hard for me to believe that winter is over.I have been cleaning up and then covering everything back up with shredded leaves.Posy Pet

I have no idea what variety my hellebore is. It is around 12" tall right now.

Gorgeous pictures! Now I'm going to have to try hellebores too!

Not only are my daffodils blooming, but my purple-flowered "Jane" magnolia opened its first flower yesterday.
And my "Ozark Premiere" plum bloomed 4 days ago.

Also, the bullfrogs in the pond sang ALL NIGHT LONG last night...first time this season.

As for armadillos, our best success had been to use beneficial nematodes to kill whatever in-ground bugs they are digging for. IF you have lots of white grub worms, that's what the armadillos are looking for, and you have to eliminate the grubs (either organically or chemically) so the armadillos will lose interest in your place and go elsewhere.