@porkchop_z5b_MI, beautiful geranium blooms from cuttings.

Just checked, daffodils are budding now

Spring camellias are full of buds

Winter blooming prunus mume about to fade

Dahlia tubers have new growth

This winter I started a lot of flower seeds and some have germinated nicely

Above Bachelor’s Buttons winter sowed outside. Below Bachelor’s Buttons sowed last fall. They have grown more but there are many that germinated

California poppies sowed last fall

Spring is at the corner🌼

^^ Lots of stuff going on for you already down there in Z8 :0)

That would cheer me up, Porkchop. Great colour (am knitting myself a cardigan with that shade of fuschia pink (and cherry and purple). Bodes well for a summer display too.

Gorgeous!

I love Camelias!

Your geranium is very pretty!

We are a long way from spring here, but at least it is melting today. I tried to check on some trees today and so far I see broken branches and damage on my thuja, dogwood, rhododendron, and apple tree.

Camellias about to come into their Spring peak after blooms in November -December.

Things are happening here, though somewhat out of order. The snowdrops are usually far ahead of the early crocus, but this year, that's reversed.

Crocus

more crocus

Snowdrops

Helleborus niger

It's interesting seeing crocus and snowdrops emerging from brown grass and leaves. Here they are invariably on a green background.

^^ Beautiful.

I had to drive south for an appointment today and saw bare ground for the first time since January 1. yay!

Must be great view to see snow melting in the north.

The deers had spared some daffodils in our yard this winter. I feel encouraged

Maybe I can plant more in the fall

Camellias in bloom again, they start in November and December in more recent years.

Oh, the DEER?! They can't reach these now, too tall!

Flora, we have daffodil plantings that bloom with green grass. It does look much better:-)

I realized I don't see a lot of crocus locally. Maybe it is that I just don't see them because they are rather small, but they don't seem to be one of the commonly naturalized bulbs.

Crocuses are a squirrel favourite. I have to put wire netting over them. The grey squirrel we have round here is an invasive species from America. Maybe they eat even more in their natural habitat.

IME, they don't eat them so much as move them around. I'm definitely blaming squirrels for the crocus that have come up in places I did not plant them. Of course, I also have three large oak trees in my backyard, another oak in the front yard, multiple hickory trees in the neighbor's yard, and assorted maples. The squirrels aren't starving.

I planted many bulb last fall. Some managed to survive the wild animals 🐿️🦌🐰. Are these Crocus bulbs?

Still most of them must have been eaten

Yes. They're Crocuses. (Strictly speaking corms rather than bulbs.) Bottom picture also has some daffodil foliage. Judging by the leaves and pine needles the Crocuses are under trees. They do best in full sun where the flowers will open fully.

Floral….love that display of crocus!

Enjoying everyone’s photos!

MadGallica - are you sure you are zone 5? I’m zone six and I can’t even see any crocus foliage. The snow drops are just starting to show and some of the daff foliage is up about 2 inches.

Technically, the last USDA map update put us in zone 6 - barely. I've never really believed it, and the -15F we saw this past winter should drop the average a bit.

Spring doesn't believe in USDA zones. It believes in latitude and altitude, though I think large bodies of water can slow things down because it takes a while for those to change temperature.

That makes sense. And I just came in from outside and I see snowdrops not fully open yet, one patch of mini daffs that are up against the West facing foundation and the blooms are opening, same bed had 4 hyacinth foliage just showing up, and in my front bed, where all my crocus remain, I have four! So I was too quick to report. [g] I went on a crocus planting spree one season and in the next two years they all disappeared except in a bed of vinca under a mature Maple. Moles I think.

There are a few Hellebores that have a couple of inches of foliage hiding in the leaves. That's it.

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK, thanks for the information. The crocus and daffodils are planted under the tall oak and pine trees. That is probably they are much slower to bloom.

"Technically, the last USDA map update put us in zone 6 - barely. I've never really believed it, and the -15F we saw this past winter should drop the average a bit."

Mad, you identify as East NY, but to me East NY, is Long Island, and that is at least a solid 7 a/b. how far upstate are you? And yes, local oceans or even lakes can make a big difference.

P.S., I am currently listed as 7b and that checks out with what we have seen over the last dozen years or so, minimums between 5-10 F.

If you extend the Mass/Conn line to the Hudson, I'm less than 10 miles from there. If you look at a zone map of NY, I'm in the eastern part of zone 5, instead of being near Buffalo :-)

PM, my Hellebore x hybridus look like yours. The H. niger is Christmas rose, so it blooms earlier.

It is Camellia show time

After a heavy spring rain last night

Crocus in bloom. I need to buy some autum blooming saffron crocus corms as well

Beautiful pics!! I planted hundreds of tulips last Fall. But I noticed small holes in my garden beds afterwards and I suspect that moles found them. Time will tell I guess. I really need to have a chat with my neighbor’s cat..

FANewbie....I am very jealous of your Camelias!! Beautiful!

Maz, I lost most of my crocus to moles. *sigh* I have one place where they still keep coming up. In a bed of Vinca under my Maple tree. I wonder if the moles can't tunnel in there because of the thick mat of roots the Vinca create?

" I suspect that moles found them." Afaik moles mostly eat insects and invertebrates. Squirrels and voles absolutely love tulip and crocus bulbs. I would suspect one of those.

Floral: yes you are correct! I always confuse moles and voles!

Amazing how quickly we went from snow and ice covering the yard, to actual blooming spring bulbs. These are usually one of the first to bloom after the snow drops because they are in a raised bed in front of the chimney facing South.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, how lovely the colors combination! surprising that tulips come the earliest for you

FANewbie - To tell you the truth, I'm not a big fan of this type of tulip. [g] I prefer the nice tall tulips. These are short like for a rock garden. I've had them decades so I don't remember exactly what they are but are probably either Greigii or Kaufmanniana. I got them because they are supposed to be such good perennializers, which they are.

I was looking through old photos and I came across another photo of those tulips that the coloration looked different...

Compared to this year.....not quite as vibrant.

Wow, Camellia flowers are gorgeous!

I can’t even believe how bad my tree and shrub damage is this year. Many branches are broken on my apple trees, dogwood, mock orange, rhododendron, and lilacs. The snow was so deep that rabbits were able to eat the bark off my apple and lilac trees at more than 6’ above ground level. wow. I still have a lot of snow but the spots near the house have melted and my snow crocus are beginning to bloom. I had to walk through snow for this photo. lol!

@party_music50, your snow crocus blooms color is amazing!

Vegetable flowers are beautiful too

Forever, what is that flower?! It’s very pretty, especially with such dark stems and foliage.

We are having our first all-day cold spring rainy day. It’s nice. The sound of constant rain is so calming. But I started some basic yard cleanup two days ago, so will share some of what I found because my spring is barely begun.

This is the bottom of one pile of apple branches that got wiped out in a storm. I noticed that the rabbits feasted on it. I scooped it up and tossed it on my nearby rugosa rose. :)

And the first of my full size crocus :)

Floral's photo above of crocus planted in the grass is the effect that I hope to eventually create on my front lawn. This lawn was a good lawn when we first moved here over 25 years ago, but over the years since has become a "mess" of very little grass, lots of wild stuff Mother Nature felt ought to be included (daisies, Queen Anne's Lace, clover and increasing areas of various mosses due to growth of mature oak/maple trees). I am not fighting this and have started adding crocus and dwarf iris (so far), and plan to add more and different short bulbs that bloom in the early spring. Right now, the iris have been blooming for more than 2 weeks, and the crocus have started (altho I think most of those have been eaten by squirrels, dagnabit).

So far, so good. I don't know if I will extend this idea of going lawn-less but might add summer-blooming plants and just embrace the "meadow" look entirely!

@party_music50, very beautiful crocus flowers

Wow!!! Forever, now that peony is something else! Just beautiful! 🤩

@mazerolm_3a, thank you. We have had these tree peonies for almost 20 years now. Really love them🌹