The dutch iris are beautiful. They look so elegant all in a clump and all in the same color.

Posie- My cyclamen don't look nearly as nice. All the snow and cold were rough on them and the leaves are just about gone now. Still better than last year though, they lost both leaves and flowers last winter.

I agree...I love the bright yellow cheerfulness of those Iris!

Katob,, you might get more snow than I do. However, I see quite the number of buds showing. How old is your clump?

More snow and maybe colder too? But they don't seen to like all the wet from the snow even though it does protect them from the cold. The clump has been there three years I think.

We were up to the 70's today and "boom" out came my Tete a Tete blooms! Next few days have highs in the forties, but they will be fine. Btw, these were the yellow leaves just two weeks ago. Greened up.

If you look at the leaves you can get an idea how tiny the flowers are.

Is that the first flowers to bloom in your garden? It is so nice to see their cheerful blooms in early spring. I am still waiting on my first bloom which probably will be crocus. I am so excited that the species crocus I planted in Fall 2013 have returned this year. I can't wait to see their blooms.

Things are a little early this year. Crocus have been up the last ten days or so.

Oh, so pretty. Can't wait to see these blooming in my garden.

Crocus look great! They don't return for me :(

My crocus thank you for admiring them. :) Those little guys are so good to come up and let us know that winter is over. I feel bad for all of you who are still getting snowstorms. Some years that's me so I understand the feeling of wanting spring to get here.
socalgal, you may not be able to grow crocus, but you have a lot of bulbs you can leave in the ground all year that I'd have to dig up and store. Too bad we can't grow it ALL wherever we are. ....I'm going to try gladiolus in pots this year.

Here's some of my first tulips that I hope will bring some cheer!

Kaufmanniana hybrid Early Harvest

Can't believe that you are in zone 5 and have tulips blooming already! I love the Kauffmanianna and the Greggii tulips. They come back and bloom better every year. I think the northeast bloom season is delayed by 3 weeks. Last year, the crocus would have bloomed already by this time.

beautiful pix everyone-muscari going crazy.

Love the pictures! It is great to see plants in different settings than the standard photos used in catalogs. I believe that Kauffmanniana looks much more lush in these photos than the stock photos. I am visualizing some for next Spring....

Karen, we are having some warmer weather coming! I think you get a day or two of 60 and :::boom!::: buds burst overnight!

Dave, love the drifts of color. Strangely, I have not seen a single muscari yet. They are way behind the crocus this year.

I thought spring was here.... April fools!

Are those aconites and hardy cyclamens?

My Ruby Giant crocus finally bloomed! I am so excited. The 25 I planted in2013 now more than doubled. They are making small clumps. It's a happy day! Will snap a pic of them later.

Right on Karen, hardy cyclamen and winter aconite. Can't really call them spring flowers when they're frozen solid!

I hope you got a picture if the crocus, mine are so often eaten by rabbits before I get a chance. This year they're going on four days and counting... Maybe the Easter bunny will nail them Sunday though. Fair trade for the chocolate I guess.

Here are my Ruby Giant crocus blooming! I planted 50 in a row in fall 2013. There are about 100 blooming now. Sorry, I got the count wrong. I actually planted 50, not 25 looking back at my purchase receipt from Dutchbulbs. Though they more than double within two years.

very nice-they're a great spreader.

ipheion and erysimum

Karen, lovely crocus! Doubling in two years sounds great.

Katob, we are having consistent Spring weather now in DC, hopefully you as well? I hope to see some unfrozen blooms from you!

Dave, no fair! You are so far ahead! Beautiful as always.

My crocus are done, the grape muscari are thinking about blooming and my double/split daffodils have buds, but no blooms. Looks like everything made it through the winter even with the planting in January. Waiting, no pictures to share. :(

thanx for the kind words posie. last year i found a bag of tulips in late april and had blooms in pots in june.

Oxalis are blooming here now.

And Bletilla.

I love your bletilla! I have been trying to grow them since last year but not very successful. They grow slowly and do not bloom. Can you share your secret to get the bletilla to bloom?

TY! I wish I had some pearls of wisdom to share. I got them in trade in Dec. 2013 and stuck 'em in the ground. When I moved a year ago, I had to move them again, and didn't see any blooms last year. A friend saw a pic I put on FB and said she has some in her yard, in central OH, Z5. So they should eventually be happy at your place in Z6 too. Best luck!!

Grape Hyacinth just getting started

Daffodils in the sun

Tulip Kaufmanniana 'Heart's Delight' after we got a little snow. .....grrrr to all that darn grass that grew back :(

Very pretty!

beautiful sandy.

Well it's 6 weeks later in the window boxes and the daffs have given way to tulips. Front of house. Note the slug damaged leaves from a winter in the garden.

Kitchen window.

Floral, how do you get these to bloom in pots? I have never been able to grow tulips or daffodils successfully in pots.

Karen, I just plant them in the Autumn same as any other bulbs. For the window boxes I plant them in old plastic pots. I then leave the pots outdoors in a corner of the garden until the shoots are showing in the Spring. Then I transfer them into the window boxes, still in their pots. That way I can do a quick change in a few minutes. The daffs can stay in the same pots for 4 or 5 years. Tulips I usually redo each Autumn with new bulbs because they don't always come back reliably. The old bulbs get planted in the garden.

Maybe your winter is too cold to leave pots outside? In mine there is no problem. I just hide them in some out of the way corner and ignore them all winter. As you can see the slugs sometimes nibble the emerging shoots.

Thank you floral for sharing your techniques. I will try them this fall and see how they do next year. I do have a sheltered location that I can keep the pots in.

I'd hardly call it a 'technique' ;-) Just plant and forget. Hope it works for you.

Wonderful photos! I love watching the Spring progression of flowers.

Finally my larger daffodils are up. Barrett Browning is charming & Ice Follies is gorgeous with lots of frills and shorter stalks that are bravely staying upright, and my pink mixed has some pretty flowers. However, Sorbet is missing. There is a nice bi-colored trumpet in its place, but, yeah..... Also, the mixed trumpet bag looks like 100% King Alfred wannabes. I like them all, but some rearranging is in order. I have been sick (again!) and my husband ignored my orders to take pictures, but I did make myself a bouquet...

I am starting to create a mental list of wants in my head and mapping where the sun is in the Spring. For next year....:)

Here are some pictures of the blooms. Left to right (Barrett Browning, Ice King, NOID that came up where Sorbet was expected, NOID double from pink mix, NOID large trumpet).

Here they are keeping me company until I go back outside

Nice daffodils, posierosie! Sorry to hear that you got the cold bug. Things are blooming like crazy up where I am. The forsythias are in full bloom along with flowrering peach and cherry trees. My greiggii tulips are blooming along with all kinds of trumpet daffodils. All of the yellow daffodils have bloomed. The whites are slower in coming.

Got this Snowdrop from Brecks last fall. It is supposed to be galanthus woronowii. Last bloom of the season.

Crocus Blue Pearl - of all the crocus I got last year, this variety is my favorite because of its color and lasting bloom.

Itzim daffodils. These look like birds in flight.

Multi-Flowering Festival Hyacinths from Van Engelen, Blue. These suppose to bloom with multiple flower stalks rather than 1 like the regular hyacinths. So far I have seen about 3-4 stalks per bulb on these though the website boasted up to 6 stalks.

These flowers are from some of my new purchases last fall. Enjoy!

Karen, looks like everything is blooming at once and quite beautifully too! On my list for next year is hyacinth. The smell is divine.

Amaryllis moved a year ago are putting on a great show. Probably would be more upright if it hadn't been raining for the past 8-9 days.

And Allium canadense:

Tiffany, I am jealous of your Amaryllis!

The window box tulips are still going strong and are really flaunting it.

Yes, indeed they are! Have those window boxes been going for over a month now between the daffodils and the tulips? Gorgeous color combo!

My bulbs are done for the year - I'm really enjoying seeing all of your photos!

Here is what is blooming for me at this time:

It's finally looking like spring in more places.
Karen, I really like that daffodil in the middle pic.

Thanks Sandy. I don't know their names. I bought a white/pink mix some years ago from Lowes and they came up with all sorts of white/pink combo though all are large cup daffodils.

Wow spring has come a long way since I last checked in. That warm weather we had must have done the trick (even though we had some nice snow showers yesterday!

I have daffodils coming along as well, and it's about time :)

Here are a few corydalis. I really like their early bright colors. For some reason the blue scilla did not bloom so great this year even though I have a million seedlings coming along.

Karen maybe someday we can work out a trade. I have the multiflowering hyacinths also in blue but the variety 'Anastacia' which has dark stems as well.... but seeing yours I of course want them too! They seem to clump up nicer than the single stem dutch hyacinths so don't seem so formal to me.

Very nice, catkin. What tree are those red buds from? What is the name of your rhododendron? What a lovely red color!

Kato, I really am impressed with the multiflowering hyacinths. They have a very nice scent too. I am definitely interested in trading. I just hope that they will multiply for me. The single types don't do well for me after the first year of bloom. They start to dwindle and then disappear. I hope these ones will increase.

Here is what's blooming in my garden in vase.

That's beautiful, Karen! Don't you just love having enough flowers to fill a vase? Nice variety. So cheerful looking. :-D

Karen, beautiful!