Zone 6 Kansas here, and my first blooms (last week) were Home Run (that red looks so velvety when not much else is blooming yet), followed by my favorite mini Sweet Diana (cutest little HT-looking blooms--perfectly shaped yellow miniatures!). My Austin Mayflower looks like it should be next--bright pink buds apparent. I do have to hand it to my iris, however--they are purple and golden yellow showstoppers right now, and my blue and purple pansies are going nuts with flowers. Kate

Hard to nail a favorite "first" since the Hellebores seem to start in December and just keep going all winter! One of my favorites in Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise', not just because of it's early and unexpected bloom, but because I happened to site it right next to an Ilex verticillata, still brimming with bright red berries - so the combination is exhilarating. . . And to the responder who was speculating about crawling about on hands-and-knees to view those downward-facing hellebores: many, many years ago, a very clever little old lady showed me how she dealt with that in her garden - by placing little 6" round mirrors on the ground (even in the snow!) under the blooms. . . Those old-timers really had it all figured out - that little old lady next door had this little tyke completely hooked on gardening at the age of seven ! Carl

Congrats on both Grapette and Pink Pansy! It's really hard to put a time frame on the first sighting of an inflo until the first flower but I generally think along the lines of about 6 weeks. Actually, I've never really timed it out but it would be different for each and every plant. Will we get to see pics? :)

I see that Derrick has renamed this variety as Pink Pansy Hybrid on his website. I'm pretty new to collecting plumeria. A couple weeks ago I placed an order on his website because the deals were amazing. How could I say no to 10 cuttings for $60? I realize the varieties may not be true to what he's naming them but I'll be happy with some pretty flowers. I do not have plans for resale. I did try to stay away from the plumerias that he listed as hybrids and named after friends and family. Scratch that last part. I actually selected one or two "uniquely named" plumerias because I liked the pictures. I wanted some Hawaiian plumerias but a trip to the islands is not in the budget right now. I'm hoping Hawaiian plumerias have more fragrance than the plumeria blooms I've smelled in person in my area. I know it's nuts to start cuttings at this time of year but I'm a little plumeria crazy right now. :) I'm having great luck with seedlings too. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them next year but I'm having fun seeing great germination rates. I just received 100 seeds from a trusted Thailand seller this week. I started soaking 1/3 of the seeds yesterday. Dave - If you are going to toss some in the trash, ummm.......would you consider tossing a cutting or 2 my way? I will pay for shipping. Thanks!