Always nice to see the first ones coming up.

Holy cow!!!! I haven't seen even brown in most of my planting beds in a few months, still covered in several inches of ice! Congrats on seeing a sign of spring, Skybird!

I’ve had several others “come and go” in that spot since I first started this thread, Liz, and today I have four more that are open, but I think this will be the only day I get to see them with the snow coming in! The ones blooming now are the very first snow crocus I planted at this house, and they’re always the first to put in an appearance! I have other, larger, batches of crocus coming up in different spots in the yard but not showing color at all yet. By the time the snow melts off from this next storm I think some of them might be close to opening--hopefully!

The last snow we got I got about 5", and it was pretty dense, so I'm a little bit surprised it's virtually all melted in both the front and back yards! There's one rapidly declining pile in the front yard next to the drive--where it was shoveled, and in back the only place there's any left is right along the north side of the house--where I shoveled it off of the grass and onto the perennials right next to the house! For the last few snows I've been "shoveling my grass" and "moving water" to where it will do the most good! I'd probably still have some on the grass in back if I hadn't shoveled it all off! When I'm out there "shoveling water around" I always hope none of the neighbors see me 'cause they're gonna think I'm absolutely insane if they do! Besides doing it to move the water where it’ll help the most—with the cold, the snow, and the frozen and/or saturated soil, there hasn’t been anything to do in the yard for well over a month now, and “shoveling water around” is one way I can at least get out and be doing SOMETHING in the yard! Today I cut the dead leaves off of a purple coneflower and did a couple other misc things, but it drives me absolutely wild when I can’t get out there to do something!

Since I first posted this I discovered that I also have my Allium 'Star of Persia' coming up in both places where it's planted!

I hope it's not too long before you start to see the snow going away--but in the meantime, just keep thinking about how wonderful it is to be getting Free Water! And snow is better Free Water than rain is since it melts slowly and has time to soak in, as opposed to rain which often mostly runs off!

Nine more days to daylight saving time, and then--Let the Games Begin!

Skybird

P.S. Did you live in the Midwest sometime? "Holy cow?!?!?" That's what we always said when I was a kid in Illinois, but I rarely here it "out here!"

No, East Texas. And Holy Cow didn't get my mouth washed out with soap growing up so it stuck!

I saw my first crocus on February 15th too! Here it, gold just like yours, Skybird. It was in a south facing spot with a rock behind. Of course it’s cold and snowy again now, but it was a nice reminder that spring is reall on its way.

Oh, and I say Holy Cow, too. But I grew up in Michigan, so the midwestern guess would be accurate for me!

My first flowers appeared on the first day of Spring as the snow from the blizzard melted. Yellow crocus and Iris reticulata 'George' started blooming in the sunniest spots. Two days later the Iris were eaten by deer.

It seems I'm late to the party, but I just noticed this little guy today:

He's just off by himself in the middle of the back yard, where I haven't planted anything. Anyone know what he is?

It looks like a crocus. Very pretty

Just found two. The pink one is coming up in the middle of skybird's white ice plants. I think it was from a potted plant that we bought at the grocery store and just stuck out in the garden and forgot about. We had no idea if it would bloom and because we forgot it was there we over planted it with a white ice plant.

The second is two blooms on some white phlox. Just a foreshadowing of the spectacular show to come. I love spring!

My Siberian iris have already come and gone, but the daffodils are in full swing, as are the muscari. Some species tulips are about to bloom. No dandelions yet. Everything's roughly a week to two weeks later than last year. Must've been the cold that came with the "cyclone bomb" last month.

I've had an incredible spring here this year! Just a few days after I posted about my first two crocus I had more open in that area, and also in my "main" two patches. The first patch starts out with deep yellow ones, then the white ones start to open, and then the purple ones join the other two. Really pretty when all three colors are there together for a few days--before the yellow ones start to die down--and then the white...

The second batch starts with the light yellow ones and then they're joined by some very pale blue ones. Both colors in that batch pretty much stay open together till they're done.

I have one more "big" batch, the first ones I put in here at this house, that are purple, yellow, and white, but they haven't been doing very well in the last couple years. They're they bigger "hybrid" crocus and they don't seem to reseed, don't know if that's the problem or not! And then there are odd ones that have reseeded (of the species crocus) kind of all over the place. For me the crocus are pretty much finished for this year!

But by now I have a couple batches of yellow daffodils starting to open, with 8-10 open in each spot--more to come--and other ones and twos here and there, so far all the plain yellow ones, but some whites and other "types" still to come. Some that are supposed to be pink still to come--but in my experience the "pink" ones are only pink in the advertising!!!

I have one pink hyacinth open now--it's in the "warmest" place--with color showing on the purple ones in several places, and they should be opening very soon--along with more pink and some white. I love hyacinths because of the incredible fragrance!

There's a patch of light blue and a patch of dark blue ipheion showing quite a bit of color, with lots more to come--and a couple other patches that are nowhere near blooming yet. The bees are loving the ipheion! (Earlier they were loving the white and yellow crocus!)

My little blue Phlox kelsyi is showing quite a bit of color already and will be in full bloom by next week at the latest. I love it! It's a wonderful little creeping phlox that stays really short and compact, so it never gets "a lot of dead stuff" on "the bottom!"

Virtually all my "small bulbs" are blooming or have finished blooming! The Galanthus, snowdrops are all but finished. They're pretty much the very first one--and I only have a few at this point, but I'm going to let them reseed to increase the size of the patch!

The Puschkinia, one of my Favorite Things, has been blooming for most of a month now, and are getting close to the end. They're pale blue, and just happy, frilly looking things--and I have two "decent" patches of them--plus they've already kind of reseeded here and there all over the place. Will probably cut off the seedheads this year to prevent any more "here and there all over the place!"

I have white Scilla siberica, striped squill, blooming--also kind of all over the place!

There are Chionodoxa forbesii in their two "original" patches blooming--a kind of "hot blue"--and seedlings "all over the place!" They're very "obvious" and rather "shocking!" One of the very first bulbs I put in--and I like most of the small bulbs I've put in since then better than them--but they do add a lot of color at this time of year! And they are definitely BLUE, and not "purple!"

I have Tulipa tarda well up but not showing color yet, and also a "standard" dark red tulip and another shorter kaufmanniana species tulip in front of that one--no color showing yet but I'm guessing within two weeks they'll be going gangbusters!

I also have my pink sweet violets coming into full color--but they're in my Escape Proof Garden, so I need to walk all the way over and look between the fence and the back of the shed to see them!

Oh! My purple muscari, grape hyacinths, are really close to opening too! I also have sky blue 'Valerie Finis" muscari, but no action at all on them yet!

I'm surprised your Siberian iris are done already, Laura! My one patch is just starting to come up--but it's in full shade all winter, and, even now, gets very little sun!

I have other bulbs coming up but not near blooming yet--but am looking forward to all of them in succession! It is so wonderful to have a lot of spring bulbs in--which has taken me close to ten years to accomplish--to provide so much color in early spring when I'm CRAVING color after a long barren winter! It seems like so much work when I'm out planting them--but that all "goes away" when they start to bloom!

I know everybody has different micro-climates, but I hope more of you start seeing a lot more color in your yards soon!

Skybird

Skybird,

Any pics for those of us who don't have much color yet?

Thanks!

Since houzz took over GW I don't post pics anymore, mmmm! The main reason--98%--is that I don't post pics on any site where the pics become the "property" of the site if I post them. It's not like I'm planning to make money on them myself, but I'm Olde, and I don't see why some commercial site should make money on MY pics! They already "own" all the pics I posted before they bought the site--and I'm certain I "agreed" to that when I signed their "privacy agreement," but I don't plan to add anymore for them to "own." Back before they took over I could track how many hits my pics got and my 'White Nugget' iceplant had over 11,000 hits from when I first posted it many years ago! It didn't really "mean" anything, but it was fun to watch the number! Now I can't do that anymore--now houzz gets the "hits!" Don't get me wrong, I'm glad houzz took over the site since it would have "simply" "gone away" if they hadn't, but I just don't post pics anymore! And I have so many pics from past years, when I was always SO anxious to see color in spring, that I haven't taken even one pic yet this year--so they wouldn't be "current" anyway!

But I do have lots of bulbs--have planted well over a thousand since I moved into this house about 15 years ago! And for the last several years Barb and I have been ordering from the Van Engelen "fall sale" and splitting the things we get, and since most of the sale things come in large quantities, 50 or 100, it adds up fast! Barb has a lot of bulbs planted by now too, but she has generally colder and windier conditions than I do, so she's a little behind me--but will be catching up soon I'm sure!

If you want to see some pics, here's a thread from 2014, the year before houzz bought the site! Don't have the purple Pulsatilla anymore--it died! But the white one just opened the first flower yesterday! And the little yellow Eranthus haven't bloomed for a couple years! Don't know if they're gone--or if they're just "resting!" Further down the thread are some of the things that will be blooming soon! Don't have the 'Cracker Jack' creeping phlox anymore, and the Arabis died too--and I haven't gotten around to starting a new one! (The Cracker Jack" was replaced by the purple Phlox kelsyi) The primroses pictured are getting really close to opening for this year! And the two-tone hen & chicks in the second batch of pics are just starting to turn "half red!"

Skybird

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/spring-bulbs-pretty-pictures-dsvw-vd~2129475?n=16

I’ve got hyacinths too, and my first daffodils! And Siberian squill, Puschkinia, muscari, chionodoxa, a few anemone blanda. Still not enough blooms for a colorful bed, but up close things are lovely...hints of what’s to come!

Hyacinths and muscari, with one chionodoxa Pink Giant:

Hyacinths with muscari in the background:

Siberian Squil:

And a pic from last week (April 1), Siberian squill, chionodoxa Pink Giant, and Pushinkia:

Sooooo pretty, Faith! Thanks for sharing the pics.

Skybird wrote: I'm surprised your Siberian iris are done already, Laura! My one patch is just starting to come up--but it's in full shade all winter, and, even now, gets very little sun!

I meant to type in "dwarf irises" (Iris reticulata) but because they're from Russia, my mind decided they were Siberian. Haha! Sorry for the confusion. Yeah, they're planted in full southern exposure on slightly raised beds surrounded by river rock in the front yard. Sadly the last snowstorm squished 'em flat, and the blooms didn't recover. Ah, well. Hope the next storm that's headed our way tomorrow is kinder....

Thanks for clarifying that, Laura! I never heard of Siberian Iris blooming that early, so I was really surprised! I have a few Iris reticulata too but they've never done very well--pretty sure they don't get enough sun! They're up, but no visible buds at all yet this year! Don't know if I'll get any actual flowers or not this year.

I'm waiting to see how many of my dafs get squashed down by the snow tomorrow! They can take any degree of cold as near as I can tell, but with their semi-hollow stems they fairly easily get bent over "too much!" I'll be watching, and if that happens I guess I'll have some inside in a vase to look at!

Skybird

Yes, the I. reticulata really love their full sun, don't they? I don't know why, but they're my most consistent bulbs, and get better and better every year. They're in fairly poor soil, too, but I make sure to throw on a good amount of leaf and bark mulch every fall, which they seem to appreciate (as long as I'm sure to thin the mulch out when they start to poke up out of the ground). I also give 'em Bulb-Tone and let their greenery fully grow out all summer, despite looking pretty scraggly. I just hide them behind some Denver Gold columbines which grow up in front of them.

Now that I think about it, they DO get midday shade from the neighborhood honey locust trees over the hottest days of the summer. Maybe that might make a difference? Full blast of sun in winter-spring-fall, but midday shade in summer?

This morning I ran out and placed some dollar store laundry baskets over my daffodils. When the neighbors see me doing that, they know we're in for some weather! Some of the daffs were too tall for the baskets, so I jerry-rigged some boxes, a plastic recycling bin, and a tripod of stakes and threw some frost cloth over 'em. As long as the wind doesn't get too strong, I think they'll be able to ride this one out. We shall see. The snow is really coming down here in Fort Collins...

Skybird, my Iris Reticulata are pretty well done, so if you haven’t gotten them by now, you may be out of luck. Mine bloomed with my crocuses. Last year was my first year trying them and they were lovely. I read that they’re not super hardy so I put in a bunch more last fall and I’m so glad I did, they are such nice early color.

Man, all this talk of spring flowers really had me jealous. So far the only thing that has bloomed at my place is red stem fillaree and blue mustard... Weeds! There's tulips coming up that some previous resident had planted but they don't look like they plan on blooming anytime soon.

Zach, don't feel bad. My yard is always weeks, if not a full month behind every one else. Not sure why.

I've got fillaree, too! That and the lawn violets have been blooming for about a week. There is one lone grape hyacinth trying to bloom in the sunniest part of the front yard ...

Across the road, there were 4 dandelions, yesterday, when there was a little sunshine. Driving around, I have seen ... little, to not much of anything ... Viburnum flowers opening in warm locations.

The daffodils on the east side of my house have bloomed, as of yesterday.

Steve

So far Steve, fillaree is all I've got, plus a ton of cheatgrass and flixweed. The kochia has started to form carpets in areas, too. It was scheduled to be sprayed this weekend, but herbicide use has been called on account of weather. The chickens do a good job of defoliating and area ("targeted grazing" it's called in IPM). Moving their pen around is a pain, though,