Not only my first bloom of the season, but my first ever flowering lily from a bulb I planted myself (in Fall 2011). Never did I imagine I would have blooms so early! Please forgive the blurry image. I was too excited to snap another photo.
It is Lilium pumilum from B&D. They advertise it as "extremely fragrant" but my nose detects no odor...yet. It stands a little over two feet tall Also seen in the background are multiple Lilium regale reaching toward the sky and several Allium 'Globemaster' just starting to open their buds. The latter are already swarming with multiple bees (bumble and honey), syrphid flies and butterflies and they only have a few open flowers in each globe!
At times like this I feel fortunate to live so close to Lake Michigan which has somewhat moderated most of the extreme temperatures this season. I believe the last frost/freeze in my area--northside of Chicago--was probably at the end of February this year. That said, many gardeners outside of urban Chicago were also hammered with multiple freezes throughout April.
