I was at DBG on Saturday, too, for a conifer group meeting at the plant society house. I got there early so I could walk around the gardens. The orchids are gorgeous!

Did you notice their crocus blooming? Their lilacs look like they're ready to leaf out, too.

It was a beautiful day to be at DBG. Thanks for sharing the pics, Zach!

Well, you have my vote, Zach. Good luck in the contest! I was hand pulling grass clumps out of the flower beds this weekend and have one little hellebore with a bloom getting ready to open. I better take another look today so I don't miss it.

I don't have anything that is even close to blooming haha. I was over there the other day poking around and I think I saw a few seeds have sprouted (probably weeds) in the beds, and the smallest hint of new growth on the Siberian Iris. The neighbor down the street has crocus blooming, which is pretty typical since her bed faces south and gets sun all day. The bed where my spring bulbs live faces west so it takes quite a bit longer for it to thaw out and warm up enough. I don't think I'll see crocus flowers even until the end of March.

As always, I love your pics, Zach! I’m not an Orchid Person, but I am VERY much
a spring blooming bulb person! I have
crocus blooming in at least five different places already now. Mine always start with the yellow ones, but
by now I also have white ones and some very pale blue ones blooming too. Coming attractions are a very deep gold one,
a deep “red” one, and the purple ones.
Shouldn’t be long now!

The “smaller” crocus you’re talking about are the “species
crocus,” most often C. chrysanthus, but there are some other species too. A few years back I got the “collection”
linked below, which has five different varieties that are packaged
individually, so I could decide where I wanted which color! Love it!
Van Engelen is, obviously, sold out of all these right now, but in late
fall for the last few years Barb and I have been waiting for their “big sale”
and then going together on an order ($60 minimum!) to get some of the things
they have on sale. I VERY much prefer
the species crocus to the “big” ones!

https://www.vanengelen.com/flower-bulbs-index/crocus/species-crocus/crocus-species-grand-collection.html

[I have my own pics of all of these, but since google
cannibalized their WebAlbums site and it morphed into something that I consider
to be worthless—akin to photobucket and flickr—I don’t even have LINKS to my
pics to post here anymore!!!]

When I saw your post I went out to see if I could find any
Eranthus in MY yard! Not yet! But they’re very interesting, unique, cool
things to have! They don’t have ANY
“foliage!” Or, more accurately, the only
“foliage” they have is the “green collar” right below the flower! No leaves!
They come up quickly, just a little stem (in the beginning I kept
thinking the “little stem” was a weed seedling coming up, and tried to pull
them out a couple times before I figured out what they were!), and then the
“green” develops, and quickly thereafter the yellow flower, and then they
pretty quickly disappear again! But
they’re bright and cheery while they’re there!
Wish I had more! They do have one
problem tho! They seem to be a very nice
One Bite Delicacy for Squirrelus obnoxiousii!
When the squirrels find them in bloom it’s one bite and the entire
flower and green collar are GONE! And
I’m left with nothing but Murder On The Brain!!!

Here’s the VE blurb on Eranthus!

https://www.vanengelen.com/flower-bulbs-index/eranthis/eranthis-hyemalis.html

I got some Galanthus/snowdrops for the first time this
fall—in the past VE was always out by the time the sale started! No sign of them yet, but most of the stuff I
got from them this year wasn’t planted till early December! The one I got has a more “rounded” flower
than the species in your pic—at least that’s how they look in the pic! Won’t know for sure till they bloom! Can’t wait!

https://www.vanengelen.com/flower-bulbs-index/galanthus.html

And, for the last few years I’ve been trying to get a pink
Dutch Iris, but they’re always gone by the time of the sale. I love Dutch Iris, so this year I decided to
get some of the white ones, ‘White Magic.”
If these things don’t look like an orchid flower, I don’t know what
does! Have never seen these in real life
either, but they’re starting to come up and I can hardly wait! They bloom well after the “spring bulbs,” so
I have a while to wait yet!

https://www.vanengelen.com/dutch-iris-white-magic.html

There are a LOT of different Iris, but, blooming this early
I think the one you posted a pic of could possibly be Iris reticulata. In looking for a pic I found this one, ‘George’,
and it could conceivably be the one in your pic—but there are just way too many
different species AND varieties to be sure!

https://www.google.com/search?q=Iris+reticulata+%27George%27&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiIyNfK76HSAhVQ5WMKHWIGDRQQ_AUICCgB&biw=1308&bih=889#imgrc=_

I also have lots of dafs coming up—some with buds
already. In terms of “cold” they’ll be
fine, they freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw very nicely—BUT if we get heavy
snow the stems BREAK, and they can’t come back from that! When that happens they get cut and put in
water! If I know we’re expecting snow,
for the last couple years I’ve been trying—fairly successfully—to “tent” them
with old screens and veggie trellises with a sheet over them. It’s a pain, but I’d rather be looking at
them outside in the dirt than inside in a vase!

Also have hyacinths coming up, some tulips up (Zach, I love
the little species ones of those too!), and a few of the other “small flowered”
bulbs coming up too, but I always need look at The Program to know for sure
which is which with those!

And a last comment!
Last spring at Laporte Nursery with Barb I got a Hellebore—since they
“can be” invasive I stuck it in one of the large concrete planters behind my
house—and I just went out to check it and discovered it had rotted off! Had been wondering why it didn’t start
growing a month or two ago! Now I
know! It sure is easier to water stuff
in the ground! For the last several
months I was thinking it was probably too dry out there! Guess not!!!

Spring (blooming!) bulbs are WONDERFUL! Now that I got the Galanthus I have at least
a few of just about all of them—all the hardy ones at least! Without the spring bulbs I’m not at all sure
I’d be able to wait for something else to start blooming! It’s like I hold my breath all winter—and I
can hold it just barely long enough for the crocus to start blooming!

Exhale!

Skybird

in "my" gardens (the ones I left behind at mom's house) I only have purple crocus, so maybe that is one reason they are later than the neighbors? The ones that were blooming there last week were yellow. I will have to look into the species crocus. I think you are right, the yellow is C. chrysanthus, and based on the DBG "whats blooming now" feature I think the purple one may be C. sieberi. Also based on the "what's blooming now" I think you are also correct about the iris! While I often like simpler flowers than the huge oversized ones that seem to dominate the horticultural industry (pow wow echinacea comes to mind, though, I guess there are plenty who like them, to each their own) I do prefer bearded iris to these dwarf ones. Although, I think Siberian iris are my favorite of all the iris. Now, I do love the species tulips and have talked myself out of spending the money on ordering them for several years in a row now. I will definitely have to check out Van Engelen this fall, seems like they have practically everything on my ever expanding wishlist... I just hope my bank account agrees with that haha.

Exhale! Skybird, and in case you need some help, here you go. I don't have a ton of bulbs in my garden, and I don't know why, I honestly do love them.

Oh and how could I forget alliums? Not only are they delicious but they are great spring bulbs as well. I have the big purple "globemaster" as well as the wild nodding onion (Allium cepa).

And one I WISH I could add to my garden is the mariposa lily. Probably not a "spring bloomer", I think these guys were blooming in June or early July, but still a very cool bulb.

Nice pics, Zach, especially with a little snow outside right
now! If you like the species tulips, try
some ‘Heart’s Delight’ sometime! I don’t
remember the species right now—think it might be a “kaufmanniana” tulip! They’re “dwarf” and have “stripped” foliage,
and the flowers are near-white inside and have a pink reverse, so when they’re
closed they’re pink and when they’re open they look mostly white—unless you’re
looking at them “from the side!” Very
pretty! I have them in front of some
dark burgundy red ones Barb gave me at a swap several years back. When they bloom together it quite a
display! This is a small pic, but it
shows the reverse better than the other pics I found. [REALLY mad about google screwing up
WebAlbums ‘cause I have some really good pics of these!]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/af/b2/87/afb28737920aa06293ee6d5aae0965c0.jpg

And if you like Alliums, check out ‘Star of Persia’
sometime! I got my start at a swap, and
will probably be giving some of the bulbs away at a swap sometime, but don’t
know when! I dug and replanted mine the
year before last, but all the “extras” went to non-swap people this time! But they do seem to multiply fast, so maybe
next year! [Grrrrr on the generic pic!]

http://georgeweigel.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/allium.christophii1.jpg

I love Siberian Iris too, and I bet you’d like the Dutch
Iris too if you like Siberian! And I
have come to LOVE bearded Iris! And the
scent is to die for! Do you know there
are some dwarf bearded Iris? Short and
smaller flowers, but every bit as cool!

I never heard of a Mariposa Lily! Is that hardy? It sure looks tropical!

Back into the 50s in a couple days, and getting near 70º
again by the weekend! Gotta love
Colorado!

Skybird

I love those 'Hearts Delight' Skybird. As you can see my tulip plantings are dominated by red/white and pink/white, mostly because I haven't added any tulips in a very long time haha. But these are the ones I really, really want:

That 'Star of Persia' allium is very cool, too! Man, my list just keeps on growing and growing and growing... This conversation is turning into quite the investment, it's a good thing I have until fall to save up eh haha. Or I'll just wait and hope that the swap you bring them to is one I happen to be at.

I do like the dutch iris, and they have so many more colors than Siberians. I also have a native iris from the eastern U.S. Iris versicolor, Northern Blueflag which is kind of neat, and the leaf cutter bees really enjoy it. I have it planed over a buried downspout so it is always wet and it loves it. I bought it in 2015 and all it was was a knotted mass of the previous years dead foliage. But it has cleaned up nicely and bloomed last year.

Mariposa lilies are also a western native (Calochortus spp.). Some species I think are from warmer climates, like California and Arizona, but there's plenty which are absolutely hardy here. The one above is C. nuttallii I believe, the sego lily, which is also the state flower Utah. That picture was also taken at Roxborough during what many of our volunteers who have been working there for many, many years said was the best wildflower season they have ever seen. The problem is trying to FIND bulbs to plant! They have some gaudy colored rainbow mix of Mariposa lilies that is common, but, I don't like them at all. http://www.highcountrygardens.com/flower-bulbs/unique-fall-planted-flower-bulbs/calochortus-bulbs-mix. 

Yep! Bring on the sunshine, I'm ready for spring!