Panseys and violas are blooming -- but I cheated and bought them last week already with buds. :)

Pussy willow still (they've held out for several weeks)

Tulips are up but not blooming... they're always slow.

Pieris (lily-of-the-valley bush) are in full bloom - they started a couple weeks ago and is still looking fabulous.

Fat buds on the azaleas, but they aren't open yet.

As a side note... Does anyone know when Newbury Perennials (Byfield, Mass.) opens? I tried to get into their website, but got an "error" message. They usually open the second week of April.

Forsythia is in full bloom and so are some of my daffodils. I didn't mention the Japanese Andromeda is looking great. Sometimes I take this shade loving shrub for granted until I see the delicate little bells hanging. I especially love the one plant I have with reddish leaves (thanks to previous owners). I think my Kalmia will go gangbusters this year. It is full of small buds. Also large buds on my hycaniths. I planted the type that have a number of flower stalks per plant. They are looser in formation, but suit my gardening style better.

I'm mostly in the process of clearing out really old overgrown stuff from previous owners,but have a few daffodils coming up and i just planted a container of ranunculus (one of my favorites in california.) Re: pussy willows--do you all have trees,or are they shrubs? i bought some stalks and put them in water and now they are rooting!! can i just plant them? conatiner or yard? Jardinista

Two yellow crocus
And a small patch of blue, Siberian squill

(sung to the tune of twelve days of Christmas)

Another 1/2-dozen of those WICKED CUTE Peacock tulips from WM. Still only the red ones, though. Queer.

Hyacinth. Mmmmmm!

...not yet even close to ready is a 2" lump of FRITILLARIA Crown Imperial! This one has me very excited! Can't WAIT to see it in bloom!

Interesting - my Japanese Andromeda is absolutely gorgeous this year as well. A lot of times I don't really notice it, but this year...

Other things up:

Daffodils
Forsythia
Scilla
Chinodoxa (0r how ever you spell it)
Azalea Mucronulatum
Petasitis
Crocus
Hellebores

And one primrose - all the others are just starting to send out leaves, but one of them is shooting out its flowers already - strange!

Daffodils/Narcissus (I can never tell which is which)
Heather
Andromeda
Snowdrops
Anemone
Dead nettle
Pussy willow
Pansy
Dwarf iris
Hellebore

I just can't get over this hellebore:
{{gwi:1064688}}

Other than that, it's mostly the same as last week, Magnolia x loebneri, dawn Viburnum, winter honeysuckle, Cornus mas, Jasminium nudiflorum, manchurian azalea, Corylopsis pauciflora (aka white forsythia), crocus, some of the heaths, chionodoxa and some other blue minor bulbs, daffodils, and dandelions. And a cute little mystery weed that I still need to ID.

Crocus, that's it.

I have hyacinth starting to bloom now, and viola King Henry that I wintersowed last year.

Indoors, my phaelonopsis orchid, which I was sure I would kill when my husband gave it to me last year, is blooming again - I'm delighted!

I've got some crocus left, hyacinths, scilla, muscari, anemone blanda, a hellebore hanging on, primroses, daffodils looking gorgeous, and some primrose denticulata that I WSed last year. (Now I wish I had sown more this year!) Oh, and I've got about two - count em! - two tiny creeping phlox flowers in bloom! I have to replace most of this since it died out in last summer's drought, but there's still a bit of it hanging on.

:)
Dee

My daphne is blooming and smells sooo sweet. Also crocus, snowdrops and a few bloodroot.

gata, wow...I'm jealous. My daphne's no where near ready to bloom and my bloodroot is also still sleeping...and I'm in Zone 7! Both have northern exposures but still....

I do have crocus, daffs, anemone blanda, scilla, violets, and my azaleas are getting ready to pop very soon. Oh, I've got buds on my pink & white dicentra spectabilis.

My hostas are also mistrusful of spring this year. I've only got one poking eyes up. The rest are laying low. Shrubs/trees are budding nicely and many perennials are up but won't bloom for weeks. Even my moss phlox doesn't have buds yet.

This is my third season in this location & I've decided that spring comes a little slower along the coast. Maybe, I'm just over anxious??? :)

We planted Ilex 'Sky Pencil' (3), azalea 'Stewartsonian', azalea Girard 'Crimson', & Japanese Pieris 'Karenoma' last Sunday. We're putting in new gardens & there's much planting to be done.

What I have noticed unusual this spring is the quantity of weeds! I'm assuming it was the warm January but we've got tons of actively growing/blooming weeds that haven't been around before in April. My beds are filled with them. It's been quite a chore to get them pulled.

Crocus-just about done
Hellebores
Hyacinths
Cornus Mas-2 different varieties.
Forsythia
Flowering Quince are just about to open (still)
A mass of daffs now
A few minature iris
'Ice Stick' tulips
lungwort ('Mrs Moon' I think) had one pink bloom yesterday
A dandilion :)
Squill-both Siberian and blue striped
maple trees

I see that my neighbor's magnolia is in full glorious bloom.

Jardinista-I would try the pussy willows in a container so that you can keep a close eye on them and control the growing conditions. I would think that you should have success with them.

My tulips are going to finally blossom today...I am so psyched (although dissapointed they are white and not red or yellow) :(
Daffodils still going strong
hyacinth and grape hyacinth all OVER the place and smelling like heaven - they are peaking I think
asiatic lillies finally poked their heads above the ground and the regular lillies are about 3' high now

Beautiful pictures!

I forgot to mention my forsythia! I waited for what seemed like forever for it to bloom, and then I forgot it, lol.

Another little surprise. I was walking around a side of the house that is rarely used (or maybe I should say rarely walked by, lol), and something smelled divine. I looked over in a corner, and there in a pile of old pots of annuals, etc., which I threw there last year and never cleaned up, is a pot with three perfect purple hyacinths! These things were neglected since last spring and all through the winter, and they are blooming beautifully. Needless to say, I moved the pot to my front steps!

:)
Dee

FINALLY got some blooms opening!

-A few daffodils, mostly the existing ones or ones I moved last fall so they still had roots on. The new ones I planted as bought bulbs haven't opened yet.

-A few scilla.

- One muscari.

- The forsythias are just starting to open.

- The indomitable Hellebore (foetidus) has been blooming for months it seems.

- The pussy willow is pretty much done.

- One snowdrop still around.

- Several pieris in early stages of bloom.

My garden overlooks the Bay - as I drive out, the road takes a right angle turn away from the water and immediately the gardens are weeks ahead of us. I've been seeing forsythia in full bloom and daffodils all over the place, less than 1/8 of a mile away.

Claire

I can add 2 more that I found yesterday:
viola
Honeyberry. I saw the largest bumblebee flirting around them, so I hope to get nice tart berries this summer from them.

Correction to my earlier post: when I said the pussy willow was pretty much done, I was speaking about the silvery catkins. Actually, from the tree's viewpoint it's in flashy near full bloom now - fluffy yellow blobs on a tree about 20 ft tall. More like caterpillars than pussies. I've never really seen it at this time of year before (I'm a little amazed).

Also, do worms count? I saw my first worm today.

Claire

Also just noticed some little violets in bloom - not the ones that are related to violas and pansies, this one has purple foliage. Wish I could remember the name, it's a really sweet little plant and self-sows only very modestly.

Beautiful pictures tree oracle!
Daffodils going strong now.
Crocus just about done
squill
chionodoxa (spelling?)
hyacinth
muscari
anenomes
forsythia
violas
hellebore
andromeda
and "weed" violets and celandine, but I love them too.
Oh, and some sort of flowering tree that I never noticed before! Small white flowers, very lovely!

Tree Oracle, as an Arizona gardener I would like to thankyou for the beautiful pictures you posted. I especially enjoyed the daffodils that reminded me of the ones that mysteriously used to appear by our back fence when I was a child in Michigan. I miss the four seasons and the thrill spring always was as the snow melted away. Thankyou again for those pictures.....