Here is the Phlox kelseyi 'Lemhi Purple' that started the so called "first bloom" thread in all the March ice muck; it got a lot cuter

Another champion-- for such an extended number of weeks now-- is this Armeria juniperifolia


'Pink Ice' Belerina Primula has also been putting on a show behind a big rock with this mysterious pink epimedium


encrusted saxi and Asperula suberosa are just starting


Daphne smells so good


cutest little semp arachnoideum 'Rubrum'


confused Crysanthemum hosmariense and Erigeron and Erodium

The mum made many buds last fall and opened a few right before winter arrived...then froze and held them for spring I guess...crazy

My new favorite tulip Clusiana 'Cynthia'

Gorgeous, smells delightful, and has no big fat leaves to annoy me as they die back--it doesn't get any better than that!

Hope my A. juniperoides looks like that!

Lotsa nice stuff there. I have one epimedium emerging uncharacteristically early so far: E. pauciflorum.

I've seen tulips with 8 stamens before. What's up with that?

no clue ??



this is a G. 'red riding hood', some where I have some with seven

Wow--Thanks for all the acorns Lori!
I hoped that would chum in some views and more pics of more stuff--oh well--
C'mon--isn't your snow melted a bit by now?

the asperula suberosa


too tired to go thru pics now, but thankfully I didn't kill much and spring is putting on a good show in the new rock garden

Gorgeous asperula!
It's still very early here, Dirtdorphins - small bulbs are still the main show - but I'll add a few (though I've already posted some of these to the plant entries):
Saxifraga oppositifolia; crocus; Saxifraga kusnezowiana;Pulsatilla patens:

Hepatica nobilis; Chionodoxa; Hepatica nobilis... or maybe H. transylvanica, hard to tell with only dried leaves; Puschkinia:

Synthyris platycarpa; Pulsatilla vernalis; Pulsatilla grandis, I think, though I need to get out there with the map to be sure (and also try to check if it really is what the seeds were claimed to be); Corydalis solida 'George Baker':

Saxifraga oppositifolia - larger flowered form; Smelowskia calycina; Arabis androsacea; Besseya alpina:


The earliest erigerons and townsendias are in bud. Thlaspi kurdicum and T. bellidifolia are starting to bloom - I was waiting to take pictures... and then this happened:

OH Noooooooooooo! I hate when that happens!
I hope you are warm enough for it to melt pretty quick this time.
Have you had quite a bit more snow than usual this year? We did not--hope we get some rain now and then...

Awesome earlies!
please tell me what is #3
and 5 and 7
and 8
and 14

Yeah, not like it's unexpected here but still... It's been snowing since Friday night and is supposed to continue with rain/snow until Wednesday... yuck. The ground is somewhat warm, but the snow was falling faster than it could melt - the walks and pavement stayed clear.

Yes, it was a very snowy winter. We've had an unusual amount of snow cover the last few winters, whereas it used to be very patchy with the ground often exposed.... must say I preferred it, and even had better plant survival then!

Sorry, I was lazy but have gone back and added photo captions.

Wow, you had better plant survival without snow cover? really? I thought it got dang cold up there and I guess I just assumed that snow cover would improve survival.

Thanks for adding the captions sometimes I can guess, in the right ball-park, and sometimes I just have no clue. I think it's actually kind of fun to wait for it though. I'm trying to learn --I'm one of *those* people who never kept track of the ID details and didn't even realized that it mattered until this year when I learned what NOID stood for
Anyway,
Your plant diversity continually astounds me and I look forward to your snow melting

Spring bulbs have certainly carried the show so far--nothing too exotic here though. In addition to those pictured in the earlier thread, here are a 'few' more


'Red Riding Hood'
Ah, but the Greigii types do have an outstanding way about them...and I do appreciate their spotted and striped leaves

'Pinocchio' with the horehound (Marrubium rotundifolium) and rocks


And I'm such a sucker for spring bulb rewards after a long winter
anemone and ipheion


N. sun disk, N. avalanche starting and aged, and NOID mini


N. pipin, N. minnow, N. sailboat


N. cannaliculatis just opening, with a golf ball--for size It's significantly more attractive in other arrangements--but my all pics of it are bad


N. poeticus var. recurvus really hitting it's stride now


T. 'little beauty' and T. humilis 'violacea- yellow base'


T. linifolia and T. saxatilis subsp. bakeri


Frits meleagris and michailovsky


and these aren't bulbs, but they are in this batch of pics, they're cute, and I've got to move this batch so I can look at the new ones
Pulsatilla 'Rote Glocke' and campenella

Dirt, lovely blooms and photos! Nothing to photograph here yet except the birds, I don't have any spring bulbs anymore, I got rid of them a couple of years ago. But soon the trees will be in bloom and I will add a few photos then.

mcash70 said:I don't have any spring bulbs anymore, I got rid of them a couple of years ago. But soon the trees will be in bloom and I will add a few photos then.

Seriously Margaret? Not even a crocus or two? Why? Please do tell...

Spring is so late here the crocus would come up and it would snow on them, temps would drop and ruin the blooms, the daffs and tulips would come up and it would snow on them, the blooms last such a short while and then you are stuck with the foliage, and whenever I wanted to plant something else, I found myself digging into the bulbs so it just wasn't worth it.

Well, I can kind of relate on the one hand with wacky spring weather--snow, freezing ruining blooms, too hot frying them out too fast, and wicked hail shredding everything--and the foliage really does look like crap and annoys me for a few weeks, and I slice through bulbs all the time, too. But on the other hand, I really do hang on through winter in anticipation of the spring-bulb fireworks and fragrance. It's such a magical time that I just can't really imagine doing without--plus it keeps the bees smiling 'til the trees bloom



Alright, how 'bout some sexy saxis then?
this is a mossy sax, Saxifraga x arendsii 'Triumph' and the shorter pink mossy coming on is 'Peter Pan'


encrusted mystery sax and the one with lots of red spots just opening is xburnatii


or this gentian, verbena and polemonium, and aethionema


aethionema and lithodora


flax, hypericum, and strawberry


some kind of creeping penstemon


this one is penstemon virens with dianthus 'nyewood cream'


...more later...past time for bed

Wonderful! Great photo quality too! I'd guess that your creeping penstemon is one of the many forms (or subspecies) of Penstemon procerus.
I agree with you on the planting of bulbs... couldn't do without that part of the season!

Thank you Lori! You rock on the plant ID
That's got to be it-- var. formosus, because I did get one of those. I have a few more to identify...
Seriously, time to make a map!

cutest little buggers

Cymbalaria aequitriloba

Veronica prostrata 'Blue Ice'

V. 'Waterperry Blue'


Anacyclus pyrethrum


Androsace sarmentosa 'Chumbyi'

Nice!! After a warm day, things are looking up a bit here.
Adonis vernalis; Pulmonaria altaica; Anemone blanda:



In the greenhouse, first blooms on DH's waterlilies - 'Attraction' and 'Colorado', and fresh, perfect leaves on the tender roses, e.g. 'Sheila's Perfume':


Paeonia anomala; Androsace latea; Pulsatilla patens:

Jeffersonia dubia; Primula elatior ssp. meyeri; Primula marginata 'Sheila Denby':

Frost on Pulsatilla vernalis this morning; Thlaspi kurdicum; buds on Cheiranthus roseus:

Update on Arabis androsacea; unknown Draba; Townsendia nuttallii:

Pulsatilla pratensis ssp. nigricans:

WOW! That is awesome for a warm day, indeed
Too hard to single in on just one to lust after--
Most surprised by water lilies and gorgeous tender rose leaves!

Okay, the snow is long gone, so no excuses - it's time to catch up!
Petrocallis pyrenaica; Jeffersonia dubia (x2) - a woodland plant, really; Townsendia leptotes seedling - a tiny remnant of how this plant used to look (darned ants built up under it):

Thlaspi bellidifolia; Androsace incana; Astragalus loanus (x2):

Androsace lactea; Iris taurica:

Phlox kelseyi; alpine Potentilla seedling (must look it up); a Saxifraga known only, rather uninspiringly, as 'FJK3'(!?);

Eritrichium pauciflorum ssp. sajanense, and a self-seeded colour variant of same; Pulsatilla turczaninovii/ambigua (x2)

Androsace chamaejasme; Ranunculus eschscholtzii, locally native; Eritrichium howardii; Lupinus lepidus v. utahensis - blooms very heavily but the flowers are low in the crown of the plant and so not always that visible:

Primula scotica; Aethionema saxatile v. oreophila; Androsace sempervivoides; Erigeron compositus v. discoideus:

Another alpine Potentilla; Paeonia anomala; Erigeron montanensis, just bought from Beaver Creek and planted; Gentiana verna:

Unusual flower form of Pulsatilla vulgaris (x2):

Pulsatilla albana v. lutea seedling; Phlox hendersonii (x2); Draba rigida:

Aubrieta 'Blue Indigo'; Penstemon nitidus (x2), another native; unknown early peony, a piece of root that came with a daylily (bonus! ):

A fabulous plant setting up to bloom, Eremostachys speciosa (x2); Campanula tridentata No, it isn't - I'll have to key it out!; Aubrieta canescens and Pyrethrum leontopodium (x2):

so many different species , and beautiful.
How big is your rock garden?