Flora- pseudonarcissus is EE here. Some of mine are already fading. A couple of quick descriptions from the web- "Lent Lily (N. pseudonarcissus) is early-blooming with long trumpets and forward-swept petals that give it an informal, wild look. The flower color varies from cream to deep yellow." (Clemson University, USA) "The plants at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst Place provide valuable information about our climate and so provide an early warning of the effects of climate change. For example, staff at Kew study the changes in plant life cycles over time (called phenology). Each year, scientists monitor and record the flowering dates of a hundred native and exotic plants at Kew Gardens. Recent signs of change include a shift in the average flowering date of daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) and hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna). In the 1980s daffodils commonly flowered around the 12 February, but by 2008 this date had shifted to the 27 January, 16 days earlier." (Kew Royal Botanic Gardens) My first Tete a Tete's are opening now, also a few Erlicheer, Avalanche, some older doubles- Texas, Ice King, Queen Anne's double daffodil. Also, Fortune and Barret Browning. This really is my favorite time of year. There are buds on most of the jonquil hybrids, and I'll get to see ones that were planted last Fall bloom for the first time. Other bulbs blooming now- snowdrops, hyacinths, and grape hyacinths.

Beautiful!! Your pics are clear and crisp and the flowers are beautifully set off by each other. I especially love the pic with the phlox. I also love the pics of the pink tulips with the yellow daffodils--that seems to me like the ultimate spring bulb color combo. Thanks for posting your beauties.

Yes, I think all pansies are cold hardy. It's the summer that seems to kill them. I bought mine in six packs back in September or October and planted them out then. I learned this about pansies from the gardens at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. In the fall, they plant pansies, wallflowers, stock, Iceland poppies, dianthus, and others. You can read how they do it in this great article I just found online, excerpted out of a book called "Temple Square Gardening". You should give it a try -- I think next year, I'm going to include Iceland poppies and wallflowers in my fall planting. As far as growing bulbs through phlox, I have a few that are accidentally doing that, because the phlox spread further than I expected, but I don't think they don't look very good. The phlox is so thick that it kind of pulls up with the tulip or daffodil as it grows through and it looks kind of messy. Basically, it looks like an accident, which it is! I suppose if you worked on it a bit by smoothing down the phlox carpet around the bulb stems, it might look OK. I do think it would be hard to fertilize those bulbs after their bloom, since the phlox will be in the way. But it might look good with a little work!

Thanks NancyJane, Every Spring my Grannie would organize our annual trip up the Grapevine to see the wildflowers. (That used to be a very scary road to drive, too.) I bet my Aunt has thousands of slides from all those trips up to see the wildflowers. Rainbows of color growing on the slopes! The other annual event was to see the Butterfly migrations - millions of butterflies crossing the highways and byways in low-hanging clouds or white, yellow, and blue, and quite literally, stopping all traffic. You had to stop and wait for them to go bye. What a wonderful phenomena - unbelievably beautiful and so amazing to witness. ~Annie