Obviously, bulbs and tubers but aconitum, lunaria, hellebores, ox-eye daisies, poppies are perking up.

Greek wind flowers, jonquil, 4 nerve daisy, sugar snaps and my darn greens are bolting.

I've had to have the A/C on in the truck a couple times. 80° here in Denver a couple weeks ago, shattering the record by ten degrees and several other days have seen record breakers as well.

Did some clean up around the gardens yesterday when it was at around 70°. All the penstemons are fully awake, agastaches have a couple inches of new groth, irises are getting green and monarda is putting out runners. On the West Slope all the fruit growers are bracing themselves for a crop failure. Warm temperatures in February prompts budding and flowering with two and a half months of winter left.

Tomorrow the weather is making a dramatic shift, from lows only going down to the 40's to a low of 13 tomorrow night. I hope it also brings in enough snow with it to cover the new growth I found yesterday, and also to deliver some much needed moisture, we're under a red flag warning and have seen several grass and brush fires pop up here on the Front Range. Definately been a winter for people who dont like winter around here.

I've got the usual early stuff emerging now -- bluebells (Mertensia virginica) and midland shooting star (Dodecatheon meadia), but they are probably 10-14 days ahead of last year:

I spoke with my meteorologist neighbor just now. She says tree pollens, especially juniper and elm, are spiking a good 3-4 weeks early. Looks like flower buds on my Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' too:

Silene vulgaris, dicentra eximia, tradescantia ohiensis, lobeliacardinalis & siphilitica to name a few

Erythronium americanum yesterday