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Precocious Bloomers

Precocious Bloomers

Welcome to the Precocious Bloomers Gallery.  All of the plants featured in these images are not afraid to stick their heads out of the dirt and bloom in late winter or early spring here in zone 5B/6A.  Whether they’re evergreen, deciduous, or herbaceous, they all have one thing in common: they’re happy to perform in frigid temperatures.  If you’d like to see more finery from my garden during winters past, please feel free to read “Spring and Summer’s Path Through My Garden,” written in late summer of 2021.  That feature contains loads of pics of green and flowering beauties doing their thing through not only late winter, but through spring and summer, as well.  In the meantime, I’ll be adding more images to all of the photo galleries – including this one – on a (hopefully) continual basis, so please remember to check back in from time to time.  Please enjoy the pics.  I freely admit that I’m nobody’s photographer, but I think the subjects here do a pretty good job of speaking for themselves.  Cheers, and Happy Gardening!

John G. Stamos

Publisher

Precocious Bloomers
Grape hyacinth (Muscari). 03-31-25.
Precocious Bloomers
More grape hyacinths on 03-31-25.
Precocious Bloomers
Virginia bluebells on 03-30-25.
Precocious Bloomers
Pulmonaria (lungwort). 03-30-25.
Precocious Bloomers
The pretty flowers of Japanese pieris. 03-30-25.
Precocious Bloomers
Snow crocus. 03-15-25.
Precocious Bloomers
More snow crocuses. 03-14-25.
Precocious Bloomers
The first snow crocus bloom in my garden in 2025. On March 12th.
Precocious Bloomers
Muscari (grape hyacinths) on 03-20-24. Frigid day, with temps dropping to 25 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Is that why they're blue?
Precocious Bloomers
Primroses (Primula acaulis) in my snowy garden on 03-18-24.
Precocious Bloomers
This yellow primrose flower (Primula acaulis) is radiant in spite of the cold temperatures and snow in my garden on 03-18-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Pulmonaria (lungwort) blooming on 03-16-24. These beautiful, extremely hardy perennials are colonizing one of my garden's shadier planting features.
Precocious Bloomers
03-16-24. Helleborus x hybridus 'Dashing Groomsmen' was planted as a baby plant and is starting its second year in my garden. Hellebores are extremely slow-growing, but when this one is mature enough to bloom, it will have dark blue/purple double flowers. Hellebores rock!
Precocious Bloomers
Daffodils setting flower buds on 03-16-24. This photo, and the next one.
Precocious Bloomers
One of my 'Northern Lights' violas blooming on 03-14-23.
Precocious Bloomers
One of my 'Northern Lights' violas blooming on 03-14-24.
Precocious Bloomers
One of my 'Molly's White' hellebores on 03-14-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Hellebore party! 03-14-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Primroses (Primula acaulis) blooming on 03-14-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Double primrose (Primula vulgaris) blooming on 03-14-24.
Precocious Bloomers
White old fashioned bleeding hearts (top two pics) and Virginia bluebells will be blooming soon. Photos date 03-14-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Pulmonaria (lungwort) beginning to bloom on 03-13-24.
Precocious Bloomers
My 'Molly's White' hellebores doing their thing on 03-10-24.
Precocious Bloomers
One of my 'Northern Lights' violas has got a flower bud set on 03-10-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Earlier than usual blooming from some of my grape hyacinths. 03-10-24.
Precocious Bloomers
My 'Molly's White' hellebores blooming on March 6, 2024.
Precocious Bloomers
My 'Dashing Groomsmen' double-flowered hellebore begins its second year in my garden. It was a tiny baby when I planted it last year, and I wonder if this will be the year that it first blooms. March 6, 2024.
Precocious Bloomers
Snow crocuses. This image, and the next 4, are dated 04-04-24.
Precocious Bloomers
'True Blue' border gentians emerging on March 4, 2024.
Precocious Bloomers
White old fashioned bleeding hearts emerging on March 4, 2024. These plants get enormous.
Precocious Bloomers
'Molly's White' hellebores on March 4, 2024.
Precocious Bloomers
In my garden, Muscari (grape hyacinths) bloom in several colonies made up of both blue and white-flowering individuals. This collage, and the next one (snow crocuses) are dated 03-02-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
My crocuses blooming on 02-25-24.
Precocious Bloomers
Are crocuses precocious bloomers? You betcha. Here are my blue and white guys on February 23, 2024.
Precocious Bloomers
This little guy is also featured in the "Winter" image gallery. It's my baby 'Dashing Groomsmen' hellebore emerging from its winter slumber. When it blooms, it will have double, dark blue/purplish flowers.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious sprouters. Daffodils on 02-09-24, in this photo, and the next two.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
My two 'Molly's White' hellebores (this image, and the next one) on February 1, 2024. The very first buds in my garden every year.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Hellebores again! This image, and the next four, are also from February 1, 2024.
Precocious Bloomers
Snow crocus. They'll bloom in the snow throughout February and into March.
Precocious Bloomers
Spanish whitebells are precocious sprouters.
Precocious Bloomers
More precocious sprouters: grape hyacinths. The colony of blue and white individuals in this picture are just sprouting now. The group of grape hyacinths in the next photo grow in a different part of the same planting feature (my "Blue and White Hill") and sprouted last fall. They've remained green all winter long.
Precocious Bloomers

Espoma Organic Plant-tone.  I am a huge fan of Espoma’s line of organic fertilizers.  Plant-tone is the one I use for the majority of the plants in my garden.  It’s got an N-P-K ratio of 5-3-3 and is a great all-purpose organic fertilizer.  It works perfectly for an incredibly wide variety of ornamental plants.  Again, Espoma Organic Plant-tone is the food that a huge number of my plants get.  So many of my precocious bloomers love it, and it shows.  You can order this product here, directly from Amazon, by clicking the #advertisement link.

Espoma Organic Plant-tone

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One of my own bags of Espoma Organic Plant-tone. So many of the plants in my garden are fed this amazing product, and they respond with vigorous, healthy foliage and beautiful blooms year after year.
Precocious Bloomers
My white Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts are blooming mightily in April of 2023.
Precocious Bloomers
My daffodils are blooming in April, 2023.
Precocious Bloomers
More of my daffodils in April, 2023.
Precocious Bloomers
Virginia Bluebells in April, 2023.
Precocious Bloomers
Blue and white grape hyacinths in April, 2023.
Unbelievable Speed 2023
Precocious Bloomers
My baby hellebore, a Lenten Rose, arrived on Good Friday, 04-07-23. It's called Dashing Groomsmen (Helleborus x hybridus 'Wedding Party® Dashing Groomsmen'). It was transferred to a temporary pot immediately, and planted on Easter Sunday (04-09-23). It joined my two established Molly's White Lenten Roses (Helleborus x hybridus 'Frostkiss™ Molly's White') in the shadiest section of my garden. The Dashing Groomsmen's double, dark blue flowers will provide a fabulous contrast to the white blooms of the Molly's Whites. The next four pics tell the story, and also show why hellebores are in my "Precocious Bloomers" image gallery. The Molly's Whites push up through the snow and frozen ground during winter's coldest days, and have green leaves and flower buds set by the middle of January, here in zone 5B/6A.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) waking up and setting buds. They're coming up out of the ground in a steady wave. This image, along with the next six, was taken on 04-06-23.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Double white cottage primrose with a slightly dirty face. (Primula vulgaris 'Double White.') These are always the first of my primroses to bloom.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Forgive me, but I can't get enough of my Molly's White Lenten Roses (hellebores). Soon, another will be joining their ranks - a dark bluish double-flowered variety. It's a baby and it's arriving here any day now.
Precocious Bloomers.
Super-hardy pulmonaria and violas are basically evergreen, and flower early every year.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
My Molly's White Lenten Roses (Helleborus x hybridus 'Frostkiss™ Molly's White') are blooming beautifully on March 27, 2023.
My two gigantic old fashioned white bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba'). They wake up in early to mid March every year.
Precocious Bloomers
Crocus chrysanthus 'Prins Claus.' These little guys have been blooming for weeks. When the temps are really low (below freezing), they button themselves up against the cold. They re-open when conditions improve.
Precocious Bloomers.
Clockwise from top left: 'Prins Claus' crocus in a better mood, pulmonaria setting buds and sending up foliage, viola 'Northern Lights' setting buds and gathering steam, sedum sitting pretty.
Precocious Bloomers
Clockwise from top left: daffodils, 'Molly's White' hellebore, more daffs, cottage primrose, Primula vulgaris, loving the cold weather.
Primrose thriving in the snow (left) and grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum) getting ready to set some buds.
Precocious Bloomers.
Primrose (Primula vulgaris) blooming on March 24, 2022.
Primrose (Primula acaulis) getting ready to bloom on March 30, 2022. The vulgaris and acaulis primroses bloomed even earlier in 2021.
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers
Precocious Bloomers

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