Perennials with Early Foliage

In early spring the "floor" of my garden looks so bare, with most perennials dormant at this time. What is needed is a carpet of foliage to set off the blooms of early bulbs! Here are the few perennials I have whose foliage begins to emerge in early April, when plants like hostas and anemones are still fast asleep under the soil.

Fuzzy new leaves of Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) emerging in spring

Aquilegia (columbine) has pretty blue-green foliage that gets going fast

Astrantia (Masterwort) foliage is slower than the above two, but is making significant headway

The red shoots of Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Heart) look almost like a peony in spring!

Euphorbia polychroma (Cushion spurge) adds a tiny spot of bright early color

New spring growth on Geranium macrorrhizum (Bigroot Geranium) starts very early

This one really is a peony - the hybrid 'Coral Sunset' just planted last fall

Pulmonaria 'Majeste' not only puts out foliage early, but is also one of the first perennials to start blooming!

There are also (semi-)evergreen perennials of course, like bergenia, iberis, hellebores, and vinca, but after our winters the old foliage on these looks so tattered I usually cut it off. I definitely need to add MORE early-leafing plants in my garden. What leafs out early for you?

Hyacinth Follies

Screaming yellow daffodils with pastel pink hyacinths... shield thine eyes!

Daffodil 'King Alfred' with Hyacinth 'Pink Pearl' - Yikes!

What was I thinking? First of all, I somehow didn't realize they would bloom together. In my PLAN the daffs bloom earlier than the hyacinths (which was true for early daffs last year). Secondly, I was envisioning the pink hyacinths looking stunning against a background of the deep purple foliage of a nearby cotinus and barberry - which of course haven't even begun to leaf out yet. Whoops. I will have to move the hyacinths somewhere else this fall, and replace them with another color, perhaps white. It's a great spot for hyacinths, because the fragrance wafts in through the windows at night. For now, I'll have to enjoy them with my eyes shut.

They do harmonize with the blue-green clumps of emerging sedums - if only the eye could crop a view as easily as the camera can!

Hyacinth 'Pink Pearl'

Elsewhere in my hyacinth planning misadventures, these 'Woodstock' hyacinths are blooming WITHOUT their intended companions of purple tulips and cream daffodils:

Hyacinth 'Woodstock', blooming all on their lonesome

Naturally, a good half of what I planted got eaten by rabbits. The rabbits in my garden do not appear to actually like the TASTE of hyacinths, but they repeatedly forget this fact a few seconds after biting into one and spitting it out. They take a large chomp, screw up their little bunny faces and spit out the abomination - yuck! Then the next night they are back for more. Ooh, what are those sweet-smelling things, they think. I regularly find new chewed-up, spit-out hyacinth bits next to decapitated plants. Now I know where the expression "dumb bunny" comes from.

Thankfully, these 'Blue Jacket' hyacinths are looking lovely next to pale blue phlox divaricata. Last year, the 'Blue Jacket' blooms overlapped with white narcissus, pink bleeding hearts, and pink bergenia, but this year these companions are nowhere near blooming stage yet. The phlox, I must admit, were purchased large and already blooming and deposited defiantly in the bare spots near the hyacinth, a move I would generally consider "shopping", not "gardening" and thus despise. But we do get desperate for companions at times!

Hyacinth 'Blue Jacket' and Phlox divaricata 'Blue Moon'

Oh, the chomped off edges of the hyacinth foliage? You guessed it - dumb bunnies!

Extra Early Spring Bulbs

I can never wait for things to get rolling in spring, so it's nice to have an assortment of early-blooming beauties scattered about here and there. The power of these tiny plants far outweighs their size to the gardener's winter-starved soul. These are the bulbs that bloom the earliest in my garden (usually late March to early April). Most of them have gone over already this year (with the exception of puschkinia, which lasts an amazing long time), so here is a little reminiscence of the stars of the early garden:

• Galanthus elwesii (Giant Snowdrop) - of course the earliest of them all. It is small and white - not likely to attract your attention from across the street, but the appearance of something green and growing is so appreciated after months of snow and ice.

Galanthus elwesii (Giant Snowdrop)

• Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite) - like snowdrops, these miraculously start blooming before you've even had a chance to realize the ground is no longer frozen. They are somewhat fussy about situation and supposedly prefer a moist, humusy site. Probably less than half of these that I've ever planted actually came up, but the extra trouble is well worth it.

Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite)

• Puschkinia libanotica (Striped Squill) - these usually bloom for me soon after snowdrops. They are of the palest china blue imaginable - cool, delicate, and refreshing. There is also a white form available.

Puschkinia libanotica (Striped Squill)

• Iris reticulata - another ultra early bloomer, which prefers very sharp drainage. These come in many fabulous shades of blue, as well as some yellow. They are finicky and do not like me too well - of the many I have planted only a few have been successful. Site selection appears to be crucial. A gardener must be persistent in the quest for beauty!

Iris reticulata 'Clairette'

• Crocus - the teeny-weeny species crocus (such as crocus tommasinianus, crocus sieberi) bloom earlier than the larger Dutch crocus (crocus vernus), but both are quite early - not long after snowdrops. These provide the best source of truly eye-ripping bright color for early spring: searing yellow, deep purple, and intense violet. Annoyingly, they both close they their flowers on cloudy days, and love to get eaten by squirrels. What can you do.

Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant'

• Scilla siberica (Siberian Squill) - these usually bloom for me slightly later than, but overlapping with, the previous bulbs. I am a great admirer of blue and the dark blue cultivar of these makes my eyes fairly water with delight. There are a variety of species though, some of which are lighter blue, white, or pink.

Scilla siberica 'Spring Beauty'

• Chionodoxa (Glory of the Snow) - these have larger flowers than scilla, and bloom at about the same time. The colors are pastel baby blue, pink, and white.

Chionodoxa (Glory of the Snow) 'Pink Giant' with barberry

• Narcissus (Daffodils) - the ones marked "very early," like 'February Gold' or 'Tete-a-Tete', bloom together with the other early bulbs. They range from tiny to adorable - you have to wait until a bit later to get the big honking ones.

Narcissus (Daffodil) 'Tete-a-Tete'