Spring Flowers!

I'm sure some of you from further south and the west coast of the U.S. who read this blog have been wondering when spring would ever arrive here.  Well I'm pleased to report, we do have flowers coming out in the garden, and little spikes of green rising from the brown after a run of warm sunny days.

These are Coltsfoot, and though they're just a 'weed', I think they're one of the prettiest of spring flowers, and come up very early.  Often it's the very first flower in the woods around here.  The flowers come first and the leaves later.  They've burst into bloom in the past two days.

Most of our tiny blue Iris got frosted, snowed upon or iced, but one small patch was late and is blooming unscathed.

The Snowdrops go on through thick and thin.  They've been in bloom for several weeks during the warmer spells, and been snowed on several times.

And this is the first sign of the Fernleaf Peony.  To me it's just a fascinating shape and colour when it emerges in the garden.  It will be the first peony to bloom.

There are lots of little spikes of Primrose coming up fast now; they'll have colourful flowers soon.

This is a mystery plant I came across while weeding yesterday.  I need to figure out what it's going to grow into and follow it with some pictures.

And finally, a very sad looking Fritillaria.  It develops leaves (more than little green spikes), sooner than any other plant in the garden, but as a result it's been snowed on and frosted more than once.  It doesn't handle it very well, but it stubbornly keeps on growing.

Later I'll get to those waterfalls.

I wouldn't want to mislead you though, there are still patches of snow in the bush - this along the Bruce Trail where we went for a hike Friday.  That's one of my hiking buddies in the distance; he said he was missing being in my blog.

Linking to: