My garden’s parade of early spring flowers has engaged my sense of wonder. Weeks ago a twinkle of color peeking from the garden soil and twiggy perennial mounds still on winter holiday caught my attention.

Snow drops appearing midst The winter bronze foliage of euonymus and the round leaves European ginger (asarum europaeum) still plastered on the ground.

It seemed to stay that way for a while, just the one lone note, a mere whisper of events to come. Tiny yellow species crocus bloomed in a long sinuous drift in the street garden. In the shadier dooryard garden, snowdrops (galanthus nivalis) literally coming up at snowdrift edges the moment the mound receded was enough to shout, “look at this everyone! Aren’t they beautiful? Then, as if overnight, where there was one snowdrop there appeared 10 or 15—lovely masses repeating throughout my front entry garden. So joyful! Their appearance was my assurance that spring had finally come to my corner of New England.

With the cool weather the snowdrops lingered for weeks. In one garden bed, they were gradually replaced by the species, then the giant crocus in purple, lavender, white, and yellow.

Leaves of Rhododendron, euonymus “green and gold”, twiggy daphne ‘carol mackie’ yet to leaf out frame the snow drop and giant crocus.

Yellow species crocus appeared first and then are joined by the white, lavender, and purple giant crocus drifting about the rose stems yet to open with yucca foliage in the back.

Drifts of the giant crocus fill the circle bed. The grass is helictotrichon or blue oat grass still in its winter form. Tulip and Narcissus foliage emerges.

One day, in place of snowdrops, pale blue puschkinian libanotica (or striped squill) with dark blue scilla sibirica(Siberian squill) played another note in the color of spring. Pansies fill the containers now.

Close-up a day or two later reveals puschkinian (pale blue), darker blue scilla (down –ward facing petals), chionodoxa lucilia or Glory-of –the- Snow upright purple blue facing petals with white centers). The first species tulip adds a note of red to this movement of blue and green. It might be ‘Toronto’.

The dooryard entry garden fills out with emerging foliage and the early spring bulbs.

This close-up shows the earliest of my perennials—a pink lungwort (pulmonaria ‘Pierre’s’ perhaps). It also shows another “small”—the Muscari armeniacum or grape hyacinth blooming with the puschkinian and scilla.

The photos taken attempt to show one note followed by the chorus of early blooming bulbs. These shown are called “the smalls” by my bulb expert gardening friend Susan Halliday because of their short stature (6 to 10” tall). So I call these early blooming bulbs “the smalls” as well and plant them in the upper layers of the bulb hole soil with the taller dafs and tulips planted deeper below them. By the way, I noticed as if for the first time this spring was that crocus close their flowers in cool weather or shadow and open for the sun.

The daffodils are just starting today in the street bed with the most sun and I know that species tulips, tulips of many varieties and alliums are yet to serenade my grateful eyes.

Action Items for Busy Gardeners

Weed out grass, maple, and other such seedlings from beds now while they are easy to reach and pull.

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Watch your gardens unfold!