Hi there. I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in zones
5-6
thank you for any help you can offer.
marg

for the most part, bulbs are the first plants to bloom in the spring.
Unfortunately, you have to plant them in the fall, or buy (very expensively)
plants in pots that have been forced over the winter. The first things to
bloom are usually the crocus and the snowdrops. A little yellow flower
(maybe eryanthis) is often next. Then you have siberian squill and iris
reticulata. Then species varieties of tulips. Finally, you have the main
season bloom of the big tulips, daffodils, narcissus, chionodoxa, hyacinths
and grape hyacinths. Around the time these peter out, you will be getting
the spring blooming perennials and shrubs. In some years, it all overlaps.
It's a glorious time of year......!
"marg" wrote in message
om...
Hi there. I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in zones
5-6
thank you for any help you can offer.
marg

Get hellebores!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also known as lenten rose!


www.bluestoneperennials.com

Love Caryn
"Come into my garden, my flowers want to meet you!"

I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the first spring
blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have my gardening bursting
in color early on in the spring? I live in zones 5-6

Sorry, gardens around here don't burst. They start off with a whisper & burst
in May. Try the following:
Early species Crocus, such as tomasinianus.
The hybrid Dutch crocus come a little later & louder, starting with 'Dutch
Yellow Mammouth.'
Early daffodils.
Pussy willow.
Black willow, Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys.' Last year mine bloomed in
February.
Inquire at your local nurseries.

Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much
that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885

Marg wrote:

I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in zones
5-6


In the southern part of zone 6b, the winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, will
bloom in *mild* winters in January and February (haven't heard a peep from it
yet *this* winter!), though it's not a "bursting in color" plant, more a
sporadic splash that's nevertheless welcome against the unrelenting grey.

It's a nice plant to grow cascading over a wall in a sunny sheltered spot,
though it can tend to be a bit messy and become rampantly disorganized, and
needs a bit of selective pruning in late spring to keep it somewhat neat.

http://www.systbot.gu.se/staff/evawa...udiflorum.html


Bill

Marg wrote:

I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in zones
5-6

Well crocuses are the most obvious at the moment, though my spot in the NW
is zone 8. Gold Crocus "Fuscotinctus" is in moderate bloom right now.
Crocus sieberi atticus "Firefly" is in fabulous full bloom, a big drift of
them under the Oyama magnolia. On heavily overcast days like today they
don't fully open but are pretty even when closed. Many other crocuses are
on the cusp, so by the time the "Firefly" is done, there'll be many others
to replace them. A winter crocus (C. laevigatus var fontenayi) is still in
flower, though right now it is beyond its high point, it was amazing
through most of January though. Kaffir lilies have bloomed continuously
since autumn, still very flowery. Primroses in bloom for a few weeks now.
Cyclamen coum have had tiny pink buds for some while, & this past week
burst into blossoms much larger than seems possible to have been folded up
in those tiny slender buds. A huge evergreen abelia was best in flower in
autumn, but always had a least a scattering of flowers right up to now.

Although out-of-season winter blooms on vinca minor & ornamental
strawberries were nothing to boast about, they have nevertheless been
continuously flowering at least a tiny bit all autumn & winter, & tiny
bits can sometimes stand out that time of year. Pink Jasmine is in full
perfumy bloom right now but even in my zone it sort of needs to attach to
the house to get some residual warmth, so it might not do well in zone
5/6, probably the yellow jasmine Bill suggested is hardier for you, I'm
guessing. The witchhazel is fabulously aflower right now, has been all
month. The Dawn Verbanum is beyond its bloom prime now, was thick with
pink flowers early in the month, thinner with bloom now though still a bit
impressive. "Showa-no-Sakae" has what seems like an abnormally long bloom
time; it was in full bloom in November & is still opening MANY buds weekly
(whereas another November bloomer nearby in identical conditions was done
in four weeks). There's also a lot of winter color provided by berries, &
some of these, such as on the wintergreen, will still have their winter
berries intact through spring, it sometimes seems like those berries never
wear out.

Though leaf buds don't really count as flowers, they are nevertheless
exciting to me, & just about everything is budding, a list would
practically be the complete deciduous shrubs documentation of the gardens.
Two examples: Cascade Huckleberry (Vaccinium deliciosum) is a tiny
groundcover shrublet that spreads almost aggressively, & doubled the size
of its patch since last year. On all the tiny twigs springing up all
around the parent plant, besides on the parent, are bright pink leaf-buds.
It's not big & obvious or anything, but it thrilled me. Plus I have
honeysuckles which in warmer zones would've been evergreen but are
deciduous here. The fruits lasted about to winter, & it seemed like the
vines were bare hardly any time at all before the tips were repopulated by
starts of leaves.

For February I'm looking forward to the grape hyacinths & scillas probably
being first -- they were naturalized long before we bought the house so
much in command of their spots of ground. Many new bulbs were planted in
autumn & this will be my first experience with most of them, the majority
of choices being small things that should naturalize, but so many now have
their leaves pushed well up so probably will be blooming in February; will
soon see. I swear it feels like I planted bulbs only last week, autumn &
winter flew by so fast. Lots of perennials that are alleged to stop
blooming "at first frost" didn't regard our mild frosts as worthy of
noticing, so bloomed to the end of November or never quite stopped at all;
the garden was just never all that dormant, so winter has seemed
particularly short since summer/autumn bloomers bloomed into winter, &
some of the crocuses consider it already spring.

-paghat

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in zones

I have crocus blooming now (last 2 weeks) and johnny jumpups. Usually the next
to bloom are the muscari and Dutch iris, then pansies, early tulips and
daffodils. Bulbs are always the first color I see here in Colorado (zone4/5).
sed5555

Thank you all for your excellent replies.

In article ,
marg wrote:
Thank you all for your excellent replies.

Here are a couple of other early bloomers I didn't see mentioned:

chionodoxa (glory of the snow) - another tiny bulb, less conspicuous
than crocus but the flowers last much longer (3 weeks at least)
and aren't ruined by rain nor eaten by rodents. Also spread nicely.
Come in lavender-blue, pink, white, and blue-with-white-eye (my
favorite.)

hellebores - perennial, expensive but nice, good foliage also.

winter aconite - cute, small bulbs again, great yellow. Not eaten
by rodents, I think.

anemone blanda - tiny bulbs (corms, actually) - cute daisy-like
flowers, like sandy soil so I can no longer grow them but I used to.
Come in nice blue, pink and white.

Some azaleas/rhododendron bloom very early, ask at local nurseries.

Have fun- spring will get here eventually!

- Naomi D., zone 5, garden currently under a foot or more of snow.

"N.S.D" wrote in message
...

chionodoxa (glory of the snow) - another tiny bulb, less conspicuous
than crocus but the flowers last much longer (3 weeks at least)
and aren't ruined by rain nor eaten by rodents. Also spread nicely.
Come in lavender-blue, pink, white, and blue-with-white-eye (my
favorite.)

I have to differ with you on this one. I've got large drifts of them,
started from just a few bulbs years ago. In winters when we have persistent
snow cover, not that often around here, the voles eat the chionodoxa bulbs.
I know it's voles from the characteristic tunnels they build, on the surface
of the grass when it's snow covered. When the ground is clear, the
neighborhood cats keep the voles in check.

One year when we had deep snow all winter, I lost almost all of my
chionodoxa. They re-established themselves from the few seedling bulbs the
voles missed, and are now back in full force. They make nice cut flowers,
perfect for a small vase, and they are beautiful and carefree. The foliage
after bloom fades faster than that of crocuses, for those of you who care
about that.

Sue

Zone 6, Southcentral PA

In article ,
(paghat) wrote:

Marg wrote:

I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in zones
5-6

Well crocuses are the most obvious at the moment, though my spot in the NW
is zone 8. Gold Crocus "Fuscotinctus" is in moderate bloom right now.
Crocus sieberi atticus "Firefly" is in fabulous full bloom, a big drift of
them under the Oyama magnolia. On heavily overcast days like today they
don't fully open but are pretty even when closed. Many other crocuses are
on the cusp, so by the time the "Firefly" is done, there'll be many others
to replace them.

[clips]

A week or so later (Feb 1/2) still more crocuses bloomin' (plus "Firefly"
& "Fuscotinctus" not yet letting up, & another drift of "Fuscotinctus"
under a budding current just started). C. etruscus "Zwanenburg" blooming
pale violet in front of a dwarf rhody; C. korolkowii "Kiss of Spring" in
the same area with big yellow buds about to open. Crocus x luteus
"Stellaris" with bright yellow bud could open as early as tomorrow. Some
unknown ones here & there naturalized from being long naturalized. Mostly
all the early crocuses have been purply-blue, or yellow. I gotta remember
to add more white next autumn. Also want to plant more autumn-blooming
crocuses.

I was yesterday & the day before reading Bowles' 1915 book about his
autumn & winter garden, & he was a complete crocus fanatic, & recommended
as the easiest autumn-bloomers: C. speciosus, C. zonatus, C. pulchellus &
C. longiflourus, in that order of ease. By C. zonatus he means C.
kotschyanus, it got renamed. I have three autumn-species & one
winter-species, but except for C. speciosus it appears I failed to get the
easiest, so will add the other three in the future.

The Bowles autumn/winter book was tons of fun; there's a matching volume
on his spring & summer garden so I'll read that one this coming week.

But for first spring blooms, the Hellebore buds are now opening into full
bloom fast as can be. The so-called "Heronswood Yellow" which is planely
creamy white colored with hardly any yellow at all, has huge fully opened
blooms. The others are still mainly huge buds with a few opened, except
one has been fully blooming for some while already, & oddly it's the
youngest/smallest, & just sold as "Mixed Border"--no special cultivar, but
is a lovely maroon streaky flower.

Species-tulip leaves & dogtooth lily leaves & some dwarf bulb irises
popping up all over, so lots to look forward to.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

Getting spring fever really bad here, paghat, you make me jealous! Well,
at least I have a few more amaryllis to go.

Carlotta
dreaming of spring flowers

"paghat" wrote in message
news
In article ,
(paghat) wrote:

Marg wrote:

I live in the Northeast, and I was just wondering what the
first spring blooms are. Or I should say, what should I plant to
have
my gardening bursting in color early on in the spring? I live in
zones
5-6

Well crocuses are the most obvious at the moment, though my spot in the
NW
is zone 8. Gold Crocus "Fuscotinctus" is in moderate bloom right now.
Crocus sieberi atticus "Firefly" is in fabulous full bloom, a big drift
of
them under the Oyama magnolia. On heavily overcast days like today they
don't fully open but are pretty even when closed. Many other crocuses
are
on the cusp, so by the time the "Firefly" is done, there'll be many
others
to replace them.

[clips]

A week or so later (Feb 1/2) still more crocuses bloomin' (plus "Firefly"
& "Fuscotinctus" not yet letting up, & another drift of "Fuscotinctus"
under a budding current just started). C. etruscus "Zwanenburg" blooming
pale violet in front of a dwarf rhody; C. korolkowii "Kiss of Spring" in
the same area with big yellow buds about to open. Crocus x luteus
"Stellaris" with bright yellow bud could open as early as tomorrow. Some
unknown ones here & there naturalized from being long naturalized. Mostly
all the early crocuses have been purply-blue, or yellow. I gotta remember
to add more white next autumn. Also want to plant more autumn-blooming
crocuses.

I was yesterday & the day before reading Bowles' 1915 book about his
autumn & winter garden, & he was a complete crocus fanatic, & recommended
as the easiest autumn-bloomers: C. speciosus, C. zonatus, C. pulchellus &
C. longiflourus, in that order of ease. By C. zonatus he means C.
kotschyanus, it got renamed. I have three autumn-species & one
winter-species, but except for C. speciosus it appears I failed to get the
easiest, so will add the other three in the future.

The Bowles autumn/winter book was tons of fun; there's a matching volume
on his spring & summer garden so I'll read that one this coming week.

But for first spring blooms, the Hellebore buds are now opening into full
bloom fast as can be. The so-called "Heronswood Yellow" which is planely
creamy white colored with hardly any yellow at all, has huge fully opened
blooms. The others are still mainly huge buds with a few opened, except
one has been fully blooming for some while already, & oddly it's the
youngest/smallest, & just sold as "Mixed Border"--no special cultivar, but
is a lovely maroon streaky flower.

Species-tulip leaves & dogtooth lily leaves & some dwarf bulb irises
popping up all over, so lots to look forward to.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/