Is it a bulb, Jali? Are the leaves "thicker" than "regular" leaves? I think you know what I mean!

Have you seen the actual plant, or just the pic? If you have, or can, see it, are there ANY sort of flower stems forming in the center of it?

In magnifying the pic as much as is possible on houzz, my first impression is a very thick clump of daffodils--but from the pic I'm not at all sure of that! Just a gut response! My dafs are pretty much done blooming, but you're Way Out There, so probably different timing!

Can you get more, and closer up, pics, and get a description of the leaves--and what happens if one is cut in half? [And could the person they belong to possibly dig down in next to the clump to see if there are any bulbs on the bottom??? It sure looks like some kind of "bulb foliage" to me!]

ANY more info may help,

Skybird

Thanks, Skybird. I'll ask her. It is on the property of the house her son just bought, so we are working without a history. I'll ask her to dig down. A couple other people said they were following because they have them too! The rounded top of the elongated basal leaves is what really throws me. Most of the common spring bloomers you see around here have pointed leaves. I'll ask her to get some closer pics and dig down. Thank you!

https://davermfarm.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/p1014834.jpg

http://m1.i.pbase.com/u5/hjsteed/large/40950411.0503180062DaffodilFoliageLPCG.jpg

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjEieumv4XMAhVY1mMKHeH0Al4QjBwIBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stephenmorrisauthor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F03%2FDaffodil.jpg&bvm=bv.119028448,d.cGc&psig=AFQjCNG2j_yNvJXtySVK0SJFg-qR9ky3EQ&ust=1460426604638411&cad=rjt

And, in my experience, the different varieties and types can have slightly different looking foliage.

Skybird

Those look very similar. And there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different daffies. She and another will try to get some pics and dig down. I told them we love a good botanical mystery to solve. :) Thank you again for your help, Skybird!

I'm lost when they show me bugs out on the farm, but there are three of us that can usually identify the plants. The growing season has been crazy the last few years and all kinds of strange things are popping up and blooming. I have a phlox that is blooming! SMH

I have so many things that are SO far ahead of "normal" I can hardly believe it! I have lilies that are a good foot tall already, and a dwarf bearded iris I just put in last fall that has a fully open flower on it already! My 'Waterperry' creeping Veronica will be in full bloom for the first time this year within the week, and, while early is pretty normal for this one, my 'Cracker Jack' Phlox douglasii started to open a couple days ago. (This is an old pic--but it really does look the same every year!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rM5LK1b72a5ghoE1KNlJg3SPNc76d8NSMIR_ruEbe2U?feat=directlink

I can hardly believe all the things I have in bloom already! First we get heavy snow over winter--and it stays and stays and stays! And then we get warm--and it stays and stays and....

Have light rain outside right now--and am glad for the precip, but it's supposed to be near 80º here by Thursday. That's great as long as we don't get one of those crazy Colorado swings and suddenly go down into single digits one nite! At least 50% of my perennials are gonna be toast for this year if that happens. I even have hosta that's a couple inches above the mulch already.

Whatever that plant is, it sure looks to me like it could use a really good, really slow and deep, watering--as in hose on very slow trickle laying at the base of them for a half an hour, or more. Whatever it is, I'm guessing that would REALLY get it going.

That's a pretty little phlox you have, Jali! Do you know, is it Phlox bifida?

Skybird

http://wisflora.herbarium.wisc.edu/taxa/index.php?taxon=4479

I believe it is stolonifera. Needed groundcover in that area. We have lots of wild phlox divaricata growing near creek beds out here. Intoxicating in May, but extemely early in April.

Two of the ladies said they would get pictures and dig down a bit. We'll wait for them. There's one forecast model that indicates we might get a lot of snow this coming weekend, so I told them to do it before that. LOL Thanks again!

Pretty sure you have naked lily. Curled a little inward and rounded point. A bulb. Comes up now then foliage dies down and then in August if not froze a bloom spike comes up with a purple pink blossoms like a lily. My leaves are up but I rarely get the blooms.

These are nothing like a lily (the blooms). I got the divisions from a friend. They are spring bloomers. I don't know! LOL I know it is very early for it!

Could it be one of the blooming alliums? Big round puffball type flowers.

I hadn't thought of that, but I agree, it definitely could be an allium. There are hundreds of different species/varieties, and they all have different foliage. The only ornamental allium I have if A. christophii, which has very similar foliage, but when it gets much taller than that in your pic, it starts to flop all over the place. And I wasn't having much luck finding a pic of the A. c. foliage, but I ran into this one which also looks very similar. Go down to the A. senescens.... foliage pic. If it is an allium, odds are the foliage would have some sort of an onionish scent--but not positively!

http://www.robsplants.com/plants/AlliuSenes

I had never heard of the naked lily so I googled it and that would be a possibility, but you just said it's not a lily-type flower. But--you said in the original post that this was growing at somebody else's house, so you're confusing me at this point! I thought you didn't know what the flowers looked like!

'Splain yourself, girl!

Skybird

Edited to add: I never got around to posting this at the time, but Phlox stolonifera doesn't normally have the "split" petals like in your pic.

https://www.google.com/search?q=phlox+stolonifera&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjoq9bAs5bMAhVKl4MKHYEVC7IQ_AUICCgC&biw=1199&bih=815&dpr=1.09

That's what made me think of bifida when I saw the pic! But I think there may be other species that look like that, so there's no way to know for sure!

https://www.google.com/search?q=phlox+bifida&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Regardless of what name it uses, it's a pretty little critter!

I think we're all talking about different things. The phlox is in my yard. The phlox is the little flower on the second picture I posted. The second picture is my plant, in my yard and I know it is phlox of some kind or another.

The OP picture is the one that a person asked for help. Sorry. I got very confused with Margaret's response. Might that be a lily? I guess it might. Actually that crossed my mind, but I dismissed it given how early it is. Might it be an allium? It might be looking at the foliage on that plant. Surely, they could smell an allium and figure that out? Maybe not.

Frankly, if the curious ones that wanted instant answers cannot follow through, I'm past it. We have some very casual gardeners that don't have much of an attention span, but they want instant answers. Often those answers take time and effort, but they've moved on to the next thing. They might get the info Skybird requested in about July, if ever. I hoped with two of them saying they would, that one would follow through. Oh, well. Thank you all for the effort. I appreciate it!

Now it makes sense, Jali! I think all the responses here were about your original question--except my little "side question" about the phlox, 'cause I thought it was pretty and was just wondering what it was!

Your original pic, I think, could be any of the three things suggested above--or possibly something else. IF you ever do find out what it is, I'd really appreciate finding out what you found out! Once I start wondering about something I usually keep right on wondering until I get an answer! So if you get an answer--in July, or whenever--come back!

One more comment! I don't believe ALL alliums have a "noticeable" oniony scent, so if it doesn't wouldn't necessarily rule allium out. But the three things suggested have VERY different flowers, so if it blooms it should be pretty apparent if it's one of the three.

Happy Spring!

Chirp, chirp,

Skybird

My alliums (most probably 'globemaster') do not have any discernible "onion" smell, at least not my sniffer.

I have naked lady around my property and this looks very similar from the picture. You late will die and bring beautiful flowers out of nowhere with nothing but a long stem!