Daffodil Season

Our neighborhood community association recently sponsored a talk on mature gardens - and how to deal with them. I inherited a "mature" perennial garden when I moved here - and it inspired me to keep adding more perennials. I love to see flowers emerge all spring and summer long, without my planting them again and again.

The gardening expert gave a list of nine "marker" flowers - three for spring, three for early summer and three for late summer or fall. I should have written them down, but I didn't! (I thought I'd remember!)

I did remember her three spring flowers: crocuses, daffodils and tulips. I had to stop and think... I had always thought that daffodils and tulips bloom at the same time, but apparently they don't.

It appears that we are currently in daffodil season. I did have a few, and my tulips aren't in bloom yet.

These were taken in a neighbor's yard. I only have half a dozen and they tend to face down. 

I don't have any crocuses. I'll have to plant some bulbs for next spring. Early spring blooms are such a treat! In my garden, "crocus season" sees scillas and hellebores in bloom.

"Daffodil season" sees a whole host more:

Tulip tarda (pictured here), bleeding heart...

Periwinkle...

Hyacinth...

One piece of advice shared by the local gardening expert: Buy perennials that will increase your blooming season. 

For me that will be early spring ("crocus season") and late fall ("sedum season").