A Few Spring Flowers

We're enjoying the lovely first month of spring here in Iowa; the weather has been a combination of warm sunny days (yesterday was nearly 80 degrees) and cooler windy days in the 50s and 60s, and flowers are popping out here and there.

A few tulips are starting to bloom, along with the daffodils and other early bulbs I showed in my last post, and the crocus and winter aconite are starting to fade out now. Here are a few other flowers that are blooming in my gardens now:

The first of the Darwin Hybrid Tulip in my Mint Circle bed.

A low-growing species tulip (perhaps 'Lilac Wonder'?)

Pushkinia libanotica (striped squill), scilla siberica, (wood squill) and hyacinths 'Blue Jacket' (and watch out for the fierce hunter approaching!).

Muscari botryoides album.

More Muscari with purple hyacinths in the background, in the North Border.

Violas planted with tulips about to bloom. I love their cheerful little faces!

More violas and daffodils. These bulbs among the violas are ones I tried to pull out after last spring, but I evidently didn't get them all because quite a few are coming back. Now I'm glad that I was so ineffective in removing them!

Some Fritillaria I planted a few years ago. I'm not sure, but they might be Fritillaria Michailovskyi.

The same tulips as in the first photo, but that one was taken yesterday and this one today. Right after first posting this post, I saw that the purple tulips have opened and had to post the new photo -- what a difference 24 hours makes!

I'm so happy that spring is here after the cold, gray winter. Our grass is finally green again and our skies are much more blue. After being deprived of color for four months, I'm enjoying every moment of spring's bright, happy hues.

And my husband and I are heading down to St. Louis (where spring is several weeks ahead of here) to visit our good friends and meet their little baby for the first time. I hope a visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden (the MOBOT) will be included in our weekend, and with any luck I'll have many photos of the magnificent spring flower displays there to share in my next post.

I hope that you too are enjoying the flowers that are beginning to bloom in your own gardens, now that warmer days are arriving. Thanks for reading! -Beth