It's a Blooming Party in the Garden

As late winter flowers give way to early spring blooms, Crocus 'Princess Beatrix' is strutting her stuff in a bulb Conga line. Although the Crocuses are now on the way out, the Scilla siberica are poised to take over the dance floor.

The first of Squirrelhaven's Daffodils has bloomed.This is 'Little Beauty,' a miniature in height and flower size.
The little native sedge, Carex pennsylvanica, is blooming now too.Like Narcisuss 'Little Beauty,' it's also under 6 inches tall.
Now in full bloom is the native Hepatica nobilis var. acuta (f/k/a Hepatica acutiloba).I just noticed that the flowers are not pure white, but have a wash of purple on them. The flowers open wide only in full sun, closing at night and on cloudy days. Because the leaves persist through the winter, I cut them off before the bloom stalks start to emerge. This Hepatica is the earliest of the wildflowers, but H. nobilis var. obtusa, Thalictrum/Anemonella thalictroides 'Rosea,' and Sanguinaria canadensis are all about to bloom. It won't be long before they are joined by the Bluebells, Mertensia virginica.

It's Hellebore season at Squirrelhaven, and, once again, the Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger, has managed not to embarrass itself completely by blooming first (and before the end of Lent).But just barely, as the orientalis hybrids have also started blooming. They are embarrassed this year, as they failed to live up to their common name, Lenten Rose. The first of these is always this unnamed one.I can't decide if it is pale yellow or off white. The flowers turn pale green as they age.

Most of the Lamium maculatum are getting kicked out of the party. I'm tired of plants getting swamped by it and of how it looks at the end of winter.Pretty hideous, eh? (You've got to love a good oxymoron.) I've pulled it out of the south end of the Long Border, which will now be getting full sun with the demise of the neighbor's overhanging Boxelder. Here's what it looked like after I ripped it all out.That was a lot of Lamium. I've sown some lettuce seeds there for my new experiment with interplanting veggies with ornamentals. I think this area needs a few more Daffodils. I could swear there used to be more of them. Two's only company, and I need a crowd, if not a host of the silly things to have a proper party.