Yellow contrasts well with brown. Hope the milorganite does the trick.

So pretty! I have no early spring flowers

How pretty. For years I didn't plant any spring blooming bulbs, but then I started with a few here and there. As I madly dash around now trying to get the roses pruned, the daylilies re-potted and fertilized, I can look at the cheery spring blooms that are up now and see at least something pretty that I don't have to mess with......... Those are crocus aren't they? Love the color...........Maryl

Yes, these are crocus. I think brown will become the new white here as I clean up but I'm taking it slow. I need to get the clematis cut back today from the trellis before the new growth starts. The weather is holding but next week they are calling for a mix of rain/snow again.
I was miffed with myself yesterday as I left a half bag of mulch sitting on the edge of the garden bed last fall and when I removed it I noticed it sat on some daffodils that were struggling to come up.

we use the milorganite too. it seems to keep the deer at bay at first. but after awhile it seems like they dont care anymore.

pretty crocus! my yellows finished up last week, now all the purples are blooming. theyve never taken turns like this before. they have always bloomed together.

Julia, What a cheery sight to welcome you outdoors after a long cold winter! Hopefully, the snow/rain to come won't last long.
Kathy

Very pretty Crocus Julia.I planted some years ago, then when they bloomed they were so short, till I had to go out and stand beside them to see them.Decided they are too short for me.I like blooms tall enough to see from a window or a open door.I had planted some grape Hyacints too, and eventually I ppulled them all up and threw themout..I like blooms that are at least 6 to 8 inchs tall,or taller.but they are very pretty blooms.I really liked the purples in them.

jean

Jean: Any color is worth having at this point after the winter we've been through ;-).

I got all the clematis,butterfly bushes in the backyard plus other perennials, cut back. I then started taking dead foliage off the daylilies and I'm happy to report that so far it looks like all of Judy Davisson ones I have made it through just fine. Karol Emmerichs that I have in the back also look okay but one of the Carpenters, GEORGIA BLUSH, looks a bit weak. I was planning last fall to move it to another area with more sun so maybe that will happen this spring. I am only 5% done with cleaning out the beds in the back but at least it is a start. It looks like many of my tall bearded iris are struggling as well.

Julia;I know that's right about the very cold snowy winter you have had.We got snow once here,only about a inch or so.Snow is very pretty in the winter, but,I can do without it.I was raised in Illinois, just south of Chicago,and always said as a child that when I was grown,i am getting out of this,and that's what I did.Have only been back once for a few days.

jean

Another vote for Milorganite here. But for me it is not deer here deep in heart of the Twin Cities, but rabbits in the winter and squirrels all year around.

For me the early species daylilies are spring blooms, lilioasphodelus, dumortieri, mittendorfii, that in mild winters with early springs often are in full bloom before the Triumph tulips are. They are my favorites. Even here in Minneapolis, I inevitably have mittendorfii bloom before the end of May.

Other than that I like tulips, red Appeldoorns, mostly ... and Siberian squills and Virginia bluebells.