daffodils, hyacinths, snow drops are just about done and for the first time in 10 years I have buds on my lilac that I started from seed!!!! I am so excited, if it gets one flower I will be thrilled.

Cherry blossoms! Although that's not too exciting anymore -- they already bloomed in the middle of December, with all that warm weather. Weird, but really beautiful.

marozeckinj, congratulations on your lilac! They were my favorite as a kid. Hope you get many more than one blossom!

Some forsythia in the area is just now opening. Daffodils.

Iris reticulata, some other minor blue flowered bulb I forgot the name of, Myrtle euphorbia, hellebores, winter jasmine again, a few more snowdrops. A few daffodils forming buds but none of those yet.

Are those minor blue flowers "Glory of the Snow" - Chicon something-or-another, Loretta?

When I returned home from work on Friday I noticed a few if nube just beginning to bloom and a few hellebores had also opened - a really sad performance after the last few years.

Your mention of Iris reticulata made me realize that I've seen no sign of mine yet. I'll have to go out and look closely.

I won't have daffodils either for several more weeks.

Yes, I think they are chionodoxa - had to look it up. I am still waiting for some iris histrioides. It would be their second winter here so we will see how they do and if I buy more.

Katharine Hodgkin opening:

I have one well established hellebore hybrid that is budding. I had one ready to bloom before the real cold came and that one isn't sending up anything. I also had a few 1+ year old seedlings and they look dead.

I call this one Audrey II - "Feed me!"

So I went to Strawberry Blossom on 23 and they have their hellebores now. I picked out two interesting types and they turned out to have aphids so I brought them back.

Meanwhile helleborus foetidus grows like a weed. I even started using them as edging.

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Edgeworthia papyrifera-fragrant
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Daphne odora (still flowering)
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Camellias
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Camellia with Quercus glauca in background

Is Lindera the yellow flowering trees you see in the woods? I alway wondered what they were.
Steve, your camillias look very happy, unlike mine. I imagine the daphne would look just as bad as my camillias. I like the edgeworthia too. Good texture plant. Something to keep in mind if something bites the dust.

Yes, Loretta, that's Lindera.

Your pics are beautiful, Steve, and make me feel so inadequate. :-)

Lots of iris reticulata this year - they're so astonishing
the way what looks like a stem of grass one day, suddenly
unfurls into that exquisite bloom overnight. . .some vinca minor bloom, but there was severe winter dieback with this
erratic winter, which must have affected the usual heavy
bloom. . .had a nice bloom of hellebores in January, which
got decimated by all the freezing weather in February, but
much to my amazement, they're blooming again!. . .first
year of bloom on my young, Lonicera frangratissima, so
fragrant. . .and the Japanese quince is blooming a second
time after a surprise bloom during that heat wave in January.

My camellias are also blooming. April Remembered just started yesterday and Kumasaka is still in bud. Kumasaka is good as it flowers quite late and so is relatively unaffected by warm weather in Jan

pontesmanny

I took these several days ago. Fortunately this cold wave has only brought 31 degrees so far.

First flower on variegated foliaged variety This is true variegation; not a virus.

Magnoliaeflora

C. cuspidata

Ballet Dancer

C. edithiae

April Remembered
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Spellbound
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Crimson Candles
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Bonanza
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rusticana ''Izumi'
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