Inula

Bletilla, 'Alba', a hardy, terrestrial Orchid.

Gloriosa rothschildiana enjoying some afternoon shade.

Gloriosa blooming after five years from seed.

Patio detail.

Our first Japanese plums. They were worth the wait.

Blossoms of the Society Garlic. Roger hates it when I prune this. 

Huge, gorgeous predatory wasp.

Vintage seed catalogues I found at the flea market.

Acidanthera blossom portrait.

Miniature Lotus.

Miniature Eucomis.

Tomato season in the garden!

White form of  Fritillaria meleagris.

Flame-like blossom of Papaver icelandica, or Iceland Poppy.

Self-sown seedling of Dicentra spectabilis var. Alba.

The violet lawn.

Spring rock garden with Epimedium and self-sown Bleeding Hearts.

Tiny pocket garden next to Shade House lined with crock lids.

Spring garden.

Bellis perennis, or English Daisy.

A deeper-red-than-usual seedling from my Bleeding Heart.

The nodding heads of the just-risen Anemone nemorosa x 'Bracteata Pleneflora'.

Epimedium x "Ice Queen"

"Wild Oats", or  Uvularia sessilifolia.

"Merrybells", or Uvularia 

Hellebore, or "Lenten Rose".

Some lovely Narcissi.

Fully emerged Podophyllum delavayi x "Spotty Dotty".

Trillium sessile Just beginning to open.

Trillium sessile fully open.

Close up detail.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit, or Arisaema tryphyllum emerging from the earth like a great, green insect from it's crysalis.

The spidery flowers of the early-blossoming Witch Hazel.

Like tiny red hands, the first fronds of the Bleeding Heart, or Dicentra spectabilis rise from the leaf-mould in early April.

Always reliable to bloom in April, the Magnolia,x "Dr. Merrill".

One of my favorites, the ubiquitous "Wooly Bear" caterpillar.

Spring vegetable garden with experimental light lens mini greenhouse.

Dicentra cucullaria, or Dutchman's Breeches. On a still, windless day you can smell their delicate fragrance.

Sanguinaria canadensis, or Bloodroot is the only species in its genus. Their brilliant white flowers last for only a few days. 

Anemonella thalictoides, now known as Thalictrum thalictroides, which translates to; The Thalictrum that resembles Thalictrum. Wha?

Narcissus, "Jetfire".

The rock graden full to bursting with ever-larger clumps of narcissus.

A healthy clump of Sanguinaria canadensis, form multiplex "plena" in full bloom is hard to rival.

Closeup of the above. An added bonus is the fact that the blooms last at least three times longer on these than on the single form.

Like alien invaders, the unfurling fronds of Podophyllum delavayi, "Spotty Dotty" rise from the earth.

Foxglove rosette amid ranunculus ficaria.

Epimedium x rubrum is a sea of pink, and one of the first flowers to great the returning hummingbirds.

Pulmonaria angustifolia. Thise photo fails to due credit to the intense blue of the flowers in real life.

Blooming on the sunporch is Rhemannia elata, or "Chinese Foxglove".