When we hiked the trails around the area in late March, we saw the first appearances of sagebrush buttercups and yellow bells.   At the same time, early spring flowers started to bloom in our home garden.   Most of these were bulbs we planted some years ago.    The first leaves poke up in the third week of March and in the last week of the month, we had the first flowers to enjoy.

Shared below are photos taken by the author of some of these early appearances.

Spring crocus (Crocus vernus) are native to Europe, but have been cultivated to have larger, showy flowers.   Golden crocus (Crocus chrysanthus) is also called snow crocus is native to southeastern Europe.   It has yellow bowl-shaped flowers.   It is widely hybridized, so there are many cultivars available.

Later to appear are Pink Lady Leeks (Allium oreophilum), one of many early-flowering alliums.    Hyacinths (Hyacinth orientalis) are natives of the Middle East and are now found in gardens all over.  Hyacinths have showy flowers and a strong fragrance.    Grape hyacinths (Muscari botryoides) also grow from bulbs.    They have small urn-shaped blue flowers arranged in spikes.   There are many species available for gardens.

A few photos are provided here, a Google photos album embedded in this post. Watch the slideshow or click an image to go to the album.

 

The next wave of early flowers is just around the corner….