Still waiting for those full warm sunny days that will make all the spring flowers pop. In the meantime these little girls and fellows have opened themselves up for viewing and letting us know that there is still more time to wait before the full show begins. They are the selected short subjects in this new spring extravaganza. Keep those eyes open before you know the show will begin.

Family:	Liliaceae (lil-ee-AY-see-ee) (Info)
Genus:	Tulipa (TOO-li-pa) (Info)
Species:	greigii (GREEG-ee-eye) (Info)
Cultivar:	Toronto

Family:

Liliaceae (lil-ee-AY-see-ee) (Info)

Genus:

Tulipa (TOO-li-pa) (Info)

Species:

greigii (GREEG-ee-eye) (Info)

Cultivar:

Toronto

Commonly known as hellebores /ˈhɛlᵻbɔərz/, the Eurasian genus Helleborus comprises approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. 

Scientific name: Helleborus

Higher classification: Ranunculaceae

Rank: Genus

 

These Hellebores or lenten roses opened much earlier than this week. they were open on Easter even through all the snow and cold. They feel like paper and make excellent flowers to dry with silica sand and add wire stems, Here are both a purple and white variety purchased from a Meijer Garden perennial sale.

These are the first tulips to really open. They close when it's cold or cloudy so during a semi cool partly cloudy day one can actually watch them change.

S. siberica is cultivated for its bluebell starlike flowers. It naturalizes rapidly from seed. At 15 cm (5.9 in), it is suitable for planting in grass, and will spread by seed to form large colonies that go dormant by the time grass needs to be mowed. In the Midwestern United States it is becoming invasive in some situations. This little guy grows profusely. Planted  30 bulbs quite a few years back and they have spread quite nicely. They pop up through the grass but by the time i really need to mow the areas they grow in they have faded.

Muscari is a genus of urn-shaped flowers resembling bunches of grapes in the spring.Again this lovely lady started as a small planting of about 15 in each of six places in the gardens. They are now everywhere and like the siberian squill do nicely in the lawn. I just leave them there to do their thing and then mow them later.

Primula vulgaris (primrose syn. P. acaulis (L.) Hill) is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to western and southern Europe (from the Faroe Islands and Norway south to Portugal, and east to Germany, Ukraine, the Crimea, and the Balkans), northwest Africa (Algeria), and southwest Asia (Turkey east to Iran). The common name is primrose, or occasionally common primrose or English primrose to distinguish it from other Primula species also called primroses. I refer to these as my fairy hats. they are early color inthe garden

The Dutch, or common hyacinth of house and garden culture (H. orientalis, native to southwest Asia) was so popular in the 18th century that over 2,000 cultivars were grown in the Netherlands its chief commercial producer. This hyacinth has a single dense spike of fragrant flowersin shades of red, blue, white, orange, pink, violet or yellow. A form of the common hyacinth is the less hardy and smaller blue- or white-petalled Roman hyacinth of florists. These flowers need indirect sunlight and should be watered moderately. Hyacinth bulbs are poisonous; they contain oxalic acid. Handling hyacinth bulbs can cause mild skin irritation. Protective gloves are recommended

 Another variety of greigii called "pinocchio" They remind me of the old lucky strike packaging for cigarettes. Never smoked those but every used car salesman I ever new add a pack of Luckys or Camels to offer the prospective customer.