I don't expect to see my hardy hibiscus for quite a while yet - probably not until very late May. And my althea won't wake up for a long time either - it's still playing dead.
My butterfly bush still looks really dead.
I think my oaks haven't budded out yet, but I haven't looked today. They tend to be late.

What's coming to life? Too much to list, I think.

My backyard is still a mystery to me. Haven't a clue what most of the bushes are except for the 60' lilac fence. But there is tons budding (apple tree full) and am still concerned it is really early for all of this.

RP weigela? I just planted two in the back this week. It looks interesting, had never heard of it before. With new shoots it is covered a bit as I'm not sure what it's nature is for the planting time.

Butterfly bush looks dead too. as does other "woody" xeriscape.

With this being your first season, it can be wonderful to see all showing life.

Coming to life:
Tulips
Iris
Tiger lilies
Wormwood
volunteer Bachelor buttons
Cleome (I didn't know this was a perrenial lol)
Butterfly Bush
Blue flax
Potentilla
Columbines
Climbing Roses

Still sleeping:
All the trees

Have already been out weeding and de-mulching. Amazing how I love to weed at this time of year lol

Coming to life:

tulips
sedum
monarda
coreopsis
echinacea
solidago
peony
English daisy
gaillardia
mums
yarrow
daylillies
ornamental grasses
physocarpus 'Coppertina'

Still asleep:

hydrangea 'Little Honey'
hibiscus (rose of sharon) 'Freedom'
little leaf linden

Come to life:

My Crocus have come and gone.
Daffodills are spectacular right now.
Butterfly Bush LIVES! (thought it was dead)
Parsley (been green all winter)
Thyme, Oregano, Fennel, Horse Radish, Asparagus and Rhubarb all showing signs of life.
Looks like the Lavendar I started last year seems to have survived the snow as it's turning green.

Also come to life is the bind weed. This year I make a stand and wage war.

This is a great thread for knowing what to plant for some spring green. I was going to ask what would work in this aspect, but the list is here.

My newly planted trees of last spring are budding, specifically the curly willow which I so wanted to grow. And, thankfully as one never knows if my planting ability will actually survive.

Hightransplant...How high are you? Your plants listed sure like the location, and many I would not expect this time of year. You are definitely good at this. Is it the norm or due to what seems like a really early/warm spring?

The town of Silt is 5,432 ft., but we are up on a Mesa, so a bit higher than that. This is my first spring here so I wasn't sure when to expect things to start growing, but I think it has been warmer than what is normal this month. Now the forecast is calling for snow showers Tuesday night into Wednesday, with lows in the 20's three nights this week, so I am afraid of what will become of all of these plants that are already up. I am especially nervous about all of the wintersown seedlings that are up, as this is my first year to try wintersowing.

I hope youre serious about that question, supermom, Âcause hereÂs my list! (My yard really is small! Most of these are single plants!)

Blooming:
Daffodils & hyacinths (crocus are done)
Rocky Mountain pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens)
Arabis ÂCompinkieÂ
Veronica ÂWaterperry (my all-time favorite creeping Veronica)
Ordinary primroses
Sweet violets
Lots of little all purple johnny-jump-ups
Grape hyacinths are budding but have a ways to go!

Up and looking really good:
ÂBecky shasta daisy
Campanula garganica
ÂMagic Fountains delphinium
Blackberry lily
Aquilegia chrysantha
Penstemon rostiflourus
Scarlet gilia
ÂOrange Bedder Erysimum (wallflower)
ÂSea Foam artemisia
ÂRoyal Candles spike veronica (new last year and bloomed all summer----without mildew!)
Callirhoe (poppy mallow)
Several mums
Campanula glomerata (clustered bellflower)
Ornamental oregano ÂHopleyÂs PurpleÂ
Ornamental oregano ÂHerrenhausenÂ
Lewisia
Acanthus hungaricus
Agastache rupestris (licorice or root beer hyssop)
Perovskia (Russian sage)
ÂLucifer crocosmia
ÂCracker Jack Phlox douglasii (creeping phlox)
ÂSheffield Hillside Pink Dendranthema/Chrysanthemum
Campanula persicifolia (peach leaf bellflower)
Coreopsis auriculata ÂNana ( a spring blooming orange coreopsis)
Dianthus knappii (just planted seedlings that have been in 3½" pots all winter! They're lookin good!)
Peony
Dianthus simulans (tiny, tiny, tiny dianthus!)
Purple coneflower
Heracleum lehmannianum
Several Alcea - hollyhocks
Geranium ÂCompact Rose, ÂBiokovo, and ÂJohnsonÂs BlueÂ
Forget-me-notÂs I planted seed for last summer
Anemone sylvestris (I deadheaded them promptly last year because I had enough, but this year thereÂs even more coming up!)
Pink gaura
Bleeding heart
English lavender
Roses are budding and looking pretty goodÂconsidering all the snow!
Saxifrage
Hardy cyclamen
Bergenia
ÂChocolate Ruffles heuchera
ÂPink Pewter lamium
ÂFirefly heuchera (I just moved it to a less sunny place, and itÂs starting to look goodÂfinally!)
A bunch of different ground cover sedumÂs and ice plant and hen & chicks (most of them are evergreen!)
"Annual" dianthus - D. Cheninsis
And some other stuff thatÂs been in pots all winter!
AND
Parsley
Rhubarb
Oregano

Just getting started:
Scabiosa
Penstemon strictus
Penstemon grandiflorus
Rue - Ruta graveolens
Tri-color and Golden sage (I cut them back recently, and theyÂre just getting going again)
Thalictrum (may give these away later this summer)
Aruncus - goatÂs beard
SolomonÂs seal (might have to give this stuff away!)
Autumn fern (semi evergreen)
Sweet woodruff
Lily-of-the-Valley
A pink bearded iris I put in last year (Kmart) and wasnÂt sure if it would make itÂit did!
3 Siberian iris I also put in last yearÂtiny mail order rootsÂthat I also wasnÂt sure would make it! Will take a couple years, but theyÂll be fine!

Showing if I dig down into the mulch to look!
Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium, that I put a tiny, tiny little seedling in late last fall. It made it!
Ostrich fern
Trollius (one of my favorite things!)
AND the volunteer carrot I found in my one flower bed last summer that I was never able to dig up to eat because of all the snow! ItÂs growing again! Maybe IÂll wind up with "SUPERCARROT" this summer!

Nowhere to be found  but theyÂll be fine!
Several different hostaÂs
A couple deciduous ferns
Hibiscus ÂDisco Belle - wonÂt see that one till June probably!

Love spring,
Skybird

Looks like you all have lots coming up. Here is what i've got so far.

Dianthus
Violas
Alliums
Cornflowers
Sedums
Dragons blood Sedum
Scabiosa
Torch lilys
Sea Hollys
Salvias
Tulips
flax
yarrow
Yucca (showing life)
Daisys
Cat Mint
Prairie Smoke
Allysium
Pennstemon
Chives
Rhubarb
Asparagus
Daffodils
Daylilies
Columbines
Irises
Peony
Monarda
Creeping thyme
Creeping Phlox
Salidago
Poppys
Sea Thrift
Astilbe
Geraniums

Skybird, you said you had a really small yard. How did you get all that planted in it? I'm jealous. My yard is about 45 by 36, very small. You must really love to garden.

Marlene

Hi Marlene,

Oh, yes! I LOVE to garden! Especially perennials! I grew up gardening! When I was a little kid, my parents sold perennials, though perennial gardening wasnt anything at all like it is now. We had a few dozen different genus/species/varieties. By the time I was 10 or 11 I was out waiting on the customers, and digging up the field-grown plants for thembarefoot! And my uncle next door was a florist, and had greenhouses where he grew the cut flowers he usedand in spring he sold veggies and bedding plants. When things got busy I helped wait on customers over there in spring too.

And, more recently (50 years later! LOL), after working at Paulinos for several years, where, if you count all the different varieties, we had around 2000 different plantsI want at least one or two of almost all of them! LOL And there are more than I can possibly get in my yard that I absolutely MUST have! But almost all the plants on my list above are onsies, so they dont take up as much roomyetas it sounds like. I just moved in here 3 years ago, and there was nothing but rock and landscape fabric in the back yard, so as Ive been able to get the rock mulch out, Ive had room to plant perennials. And, since theyre all still pretty new plants, theyre all still pretty small. I almost never buy perennials in gallonsunless thats the only way I can get something. I think watching them grow up is part of the funand growing them from seed is even better! This year, for the first time, some of my things are starting to get too big! Like my Shasta Becky! Later this summer or next spring that ones going to get "pushed back" around the edges to keep it a manageable size. And this spring Ive already pulled out all the spreading rhizomes around my 2 ornamental oreganos and my Sheffield Hillside Pink and am rooting them And, just yesterday I was trying to plant a new fern, and, after being in for 3 years, my Solomans Seal was starting to spread all over, so now I have eight 4½" pots of them. Thats why Id really like to have at least one swapand two would be better. Mostly I just want to give stuff away! I HATE to throw things out! (LOL just yesterday I was digging in the compost pileunder moldy grapefruit peelsto rescue one of the old bulbs I had thrown out last fall because it had been a full year since I had bought them and I had never gotten them all in the ground and I was sure they were all "dead"but they werent! Ive rescued a couple others too! And, well, if theyre gonna grow, I cant just let them in there to rot with the grapefruit peelcan I!!!) So, since the yards small, and I cant let anything get too big if I want to have "one of each," I have to find somebody to give it away to! The yard really IS small, but I dont think its a small as yours. Ive never measured it. That would be kind of interestingbut Im not going out in the snow to do it noweven if it was still light out! LOL And each spring I dig up a little more sod to make the beds around the edges a little bit wider. And, if I can find somebody to take more of the rocks, theres a spot in the front yard where I can put some more stuffreally want to try a "real" pampas grass out there! Its on the south side of the privacy fence where it gets sun most of the day in summer and winter, and I think it just might be warm enough to make it work! (And I MUST have a Miscanthus too! LOL) Theres ALWAYS somewhere to stick another perennialisnt there? Andgrass? Well, grass is okbut flowers are nicer! So, you get the idea! I LOVE gardening! Over the years Ive even done unusual things like growing ferns from spores and African violets from seed. I love to play! And thats what gardening is for me! Tell me if Im wrong, but I think thats what it is for most of the folks around here. Thats what makes everybody here at RMG so much fun to "be around." Gardeners are funand optimisticpeople! Nobody can possibly be out digging in the dirt and still be negative!

Happy spring,
Skybird

P.S. Don't be jealous! Just start making your sod slowly "go away!" There's ALWAYS room for one more plant!

Skybird, thanks for your reply. I, too, had to remove a ton of river rock last year when I started my gardening. I didn't do it all myself, but it was a lot of work. I just retired in '05, so am enjoying what gardening I've done, but sometimes I get in a little deep, I think, and don't really know what I'm doing. I may take up your suggestion and start encroaching on my grass. It is so fun, though, to see the beautiful flowers. I want to plant a couple of mini roses this spring and have ordered The Fairy. I am going to have to put my big herb pots on the grass, I think. They used to be on the rock. I can't be without basil, parsley, chives, dill, and lemon thyme.

Happy spring to you, too,

Marlene

"I want to plant a couple of mini roses this spring and have ordered The Fairy."

This is one of the good oldies - be sure to give it plenty of room since it'll spread at least 3 feet. Maybe not this year and maybe not next, but it'll get there eventually. It's my most vigorous polyantha. Very hardy.

Thanks,cnetter, for the advice on The Fairy. I'll remember to give it plenty of room.

Blooming: daffodils and crocus; dwarf iris are done

Waking up:

roses of all kinds
bearded iris
daylilies
dwarf arctic willow
gaillardia, agastache
penstemons
caryopteris
peonies
catmint
lupines
geum
oriental poppies
lilacs
rabbitbrush
yucca
violets
clematis
bronze fennel
yucca
columbines
shasta daisy
sedums

Nancy

I didn't know bronze fennel was hardy, Nancy. Does it spread very much?

Happy spring,
Skybird

This is an interesting thread for looking at plants that do well in our area. All of you are getting me in trouble....heading to the nurseries to find these happy plants.

I'm pleased to announce that the trees planted last year are budding. Even the curly willow, actually it is full of leaves which have come out. This one was a chance taken, am really surpised it "likes me".

Okay, I am new so am coming to this discussion a little late:

Coming out of winters habit:
Lovage
Creeping potentials
Sweet William
Ladys Mantel
Forsythia
Sweet Woodruff
Woolly Thyme
Oregano
French Tarragon
Lemon Balm
One lonly asparagus
Sage
Chives
Rasberries
New bed of Strawberries
Over-wintered carrots, for the seeds
Cilantro
Several ornamental grasses

No signs of life;
Chocolate Mint

As of yesterday:

crocus
tulips
daffodils
pansies
irises
garlic
peonies
lily of the valley
peach blossoms
lilacs
sweet pea
muscari

As of today:
. .
. .
. .
. .
.

The cold killed everything! :-(

Coming to life AND survived the icy, cold rain over the weekend:

Tulips
Dragon's blood sedum
Peonies
Daffodils
strawberries
garlic
Lilac
Hydrangea bush
peach tree
Flowering crab
Columbine
roses are leafing out

and the bind weed is popping out ALREADY.. need to get on the defensive with this.

Already saw a female goldfinch at my feeder.. robins, of course, flicker, sparrows, chickadees, to name the common ones.. looking for bluebirds soon!!

BUT, my asparagus doesn't show ANY life at all???? Is it too early? Hope I didn't loose it over the winter, it's only my second year with asparagus...???

Happy to say that, except for one tulip, all of my plants seemed to have survived the cold snap.

Of course, it's snowing as I speak and they say it's going to get worse.

I want spring!

I got some more lily of the valley and a peony to plant, but it looks like I won't get to it this weekend unless I want to shovel snow off my planting sites first.

My peony planted last fall is beginning to poke up above the ground.