Mike, maybe I have an authoritarian streak; expect all the hellebores to look up to me!
But nodding, or not, they're all beautiful.

Charlie, let's face it. Upwards facing is easier to photograph.

True, Mike.

As many have said, too much sun also's a real challenge when photographing perennials in flower beds. Folk who are more systematical photographers than me say early morning's often a good time to take pictures. However, personally have never been an early person (at least up till now).

Meant to add a chionodoxa Giant Pink/Pink Giant picture on Friday. Have quite a bit of it, though dig some of those bulbs out every year in fall (spreads: poisonous: vole-proof). Find it easy to deadhead (deadhead to be sure it remains in clumps). Still think I remember from previous years when I didn't deadhead it, it didn't have the habit of the smaller blue chionodoxa of wildly seeding around.

Today.



That Hellebore Penny's Pink (also below) was planted yesterday!





Primula Crescendo series.



Unidentified Primula x polyanthus.

Some nice stuff in there, Charlie. Love the hellebores!! Your big flowerbed is going to look great when it's filled in this summer! Mine is still flat with only hints of a few things trying to peak out of the ground. An inch of snow fell last night and more wet snow falling today. Temps hovering just around freezing day and night lately, but a nice warm weekend coming they say.

Thanks, Connie.

We've been bringing the pansies in at night ourselves, but think we've now turned the corner on nights down to freezing. Know you do have lots of sun in winter, but springs late. We've lived in Sudbury, On; same up there.

Know exactly what you mean about the flowerbeds being initially flat (and then rising in height through the growing season).

Enjoy that weekend!

Today.

Edging.


Plants.






Hellebore 'Berry Swirl'.



Sanguinaria canadensis 'Multiplex'.



Not a welcomed visitor.

For not being a welcome guest, he sure looks comfortable!

Charlie he/she love you variety of plants I have them here also. The Coyote can't catch them fast enough. Spotted a nest of babies last week in the grass. The next day they were all gone.

Exactly, Gary. Kind of annoying.
They (or rather one of them) don't (doesn't) seem to do a lot of damage here, but they can eat flowers/bloom.

Mike, I'd much rather they eat a few roots than a few (this year at least) flowers.
But we do have the occasional fox visiter.

Things have been slow.
Still getting some cold days/nights.
Now lots of rain (but always welcome).
Today.







Pulmonaria 'Northern Lights':



Hellebore 'Wedding Ruffles'

Nicely coming along, Charlie! Beautiful pink tulips! Still barely out of the ground here, and I mean barely a half inch on most things. And no hostas coming up yet, at all.

Today.

Added that (light blue) Phlox pulchra (mountain phlox) yesterday.
Have had trouble with spreading bits of the (yellow) Anemone ranunculoides when cultivating the garden.


Pulmonaria angustifolia (blue lungwort).
Especially like the very blue, plus the violet-flowered, lungworts.


Still not sure how much of the old last-year's foliage I can tolerate with the hellebores!
(Was a late-comer to hellebores).
The flowers can look a bit bare without some of it.
Helleborus Berry Swirl.


Connie, find I can generally get about three years out of the non-species tulips.

Re hostas: Won't challenge you to find the hostas in the picture below, because it took me some time to find evidence of one of two I planted there (and that was looking at the ground itself)! The primulas ('Wanda') flowering and the pulmonaria are obviously spring plants. I think this generally cold and very sporadic spring has been hard on some spring perennials (perhaps those planted in particular locations). The bigger pulmonaria ('High Contrast') was four times bigger by this time last year.
(The petals are from the star magnolia which certainly flowered more profusely last year).

Wet, then cold; now getting warmer again.

Just planted that Phlox (blue at back (P. pulchra)).


Pulmonaria 'Silverado' and Anemone ranunulcoides.


Primula x polyantha




Primula 'Kinlough Beauty'


Primula 'Wanda'


Anemone robinsoniana


More spring bulbs

Pictures taken at my friends' garden (David and Dierdre Tomlinson, Merlin's Hollow, Aurora, On, after the open house, yesterday).
David (a gardener, plantsman, landscape architect, environmental engineer and great teacher) both designed and built Merlin's Hollow himself). This is one "room" of the 3/4 acre Merlin's Hollow. This one includes scree beds (used gravel) with bog beds (old kid's paddling pools, filled with muck, and kept wet) set in them.

Today,













First iris (dwarf) bloom ('Bambury Ruffles').



Tulips and daffodils still doing a great job.

Wow, Charlie, your plants are a lot further along than mine! I do have a few tulips that might bloom next week. Oh, and bleeding hearts are now about 1.5 feet high and developing blooms! But most everything else is still tiny.

Interested to hear, Connie.
As a friend in Georgia said, the pictures from up north give her a second spring.
And pictures from down south give me a first spring!

Guessing it would be a variation on the same theme for you.

Had a Gentian Acaulis Group flowering today and been trying to get a picture with the right flower colour.
Was too sunny and then left it too late (flowers had closed for the night).

This was the best picture I got. Think it's pretty close to the real colour.



The 'Bambury Ruffles' (above).
These colours are pretty close to what you'd see yourself.

Charlie the garden is coming along nicely.

Thanks, Mike.
Suspect your's too.

Just jumped to hot weather here. (84°F (feeling like 93° with humidity)) predicted this afternoon.
Looks like pretty similar conditions in Chicago.

In our case, at least, we're going from being cold when gardening to being hot when gardening.
Still, am happy to get going out there.