Caught up in the Olympic spirit of competition with hundredths of a seconds between the top two competitors, I walked out into the yard. The crocus have bloomed before the Hellebores! Here is the yellow - wait, I have the variety written down somewhere. Ah yes, this is Cream Beauty. Looks a bit like a gold medal, doesn't it? This particular one is growing under a tree, allowing the sun to warm up the soil in spite of the cold rain.
These crocus, originally planted in the lawn in 2001, have settled well into their environment. We have to delay mowing in the Spring, or mow around the crocus clumps, to build up bulbs before trimming the leaves off.
The other variety that is up in much greater abundance is the white, Purity, scattered in the grass. I have grown fond of seeing the bright colors of the crocus against the still brown foliage of the zoysia grass. It seems to be a more neutral background then the normal green grass, and has the added benefit of not growing up to cover the flowers until they are long gone.
Not much else is blooming other that the winter jasmine that started opening scattered flowers back in January. Those were badly damaged by the temperatures in the 20's the last few weeks, so they are looking rather ragged.
