First bloom...woo hoo!

Pardon the internal redundancy of the post title. But spring is here! I came back from a long Easter weekend to find these beauties in bloom yesterday afternoon:

Crocus tomasianus. The bulbs for these were planted fall before last, and I'd simply assumed that varmints had done away with them when they failed to flower last spring. The photo doesn't do justice to the rich color of this flower, but perhaps these words can:

I am not sure C. tomasianus is not the most lovely of its kind. It blooms about March 20th here, slight and silver-gray in the bud, but opening out starrily in warm sunshine to reveal the warmer colour of the inner sepals and the hot orange stigmata. Its delicate appearance belies it, for it is in reality quite vigorous and sows its seed about, raising up lovely young to rejoice our hearts. This precious species belongs to Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Serbia.

Louise Beebe Wilder, Pleasures and Problems of a Rock Garden. Hartley & Marks, 1998 (reprint of original 1928 edition). ISBN 0-88179-157-1.

And Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica. This is my favorite little bulb, long-blooming and delicate. Mrs. Wilder is not overly impressed with this striped squill, but manages nonetheless to charm with her description of it:

This is a little bulbous plant growing only three or four inches tall, with flaring bells of very faint blue with a line of deeper colour down the centre of each petal. It is a pretty and dainty little plant, but too pallid to make much of an impression. Its early flowering is the chief of its virtues.

Elizabeth Lawrence, on the other hand, is more enthusiastic:

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica, the Lebanon squill, has come into bloom in my garden as early as the ninth of February and as late as the twenty-first of March, flowering with nemophila and Hyacinthus azureus, and looking very charming with them, for its pale bells are washed and delicately striped with the same pale blue. Not the least of their charms is the fine, spicy fragrance.

Elizabeth Lawrence, The Little Bulbs. Criterion Books, 1957 (too old for an ISBN, but the 1986 Duke University reprint edition is ISBN 0822307391).

Comments

[fp]

A close look at the picture reveals foliage of the typical Wisconsin crocus bunnyfoodicus! Beautiful bloom though.

[Chan S.]

Sharp eye there! I'm just relieved they left the buds alone.

[Roberta]

I just found your blog and love it. It's funny, we moved to TX recently from WI. I really miss the grape hyacinth in WI but I am now experiencing the beauty of Texas bluebonnets. It's that time of year.

[Chan S.]

Thank you, Roberta. The grape hyacinth buds are just emerging right now, and I'm looking forward to them flowering soon. I'm a big fan of Texas wildflowers (and especially bluebonnets)--lucky you for getting to see them live and in person! Cheers.

[Lynn S]

Beautiful! I've had blooms for a while now. I just recently put a photo of one of my daffodils at the top of my sidebar.

[Chan S.]

Thanks, Lynn. Yes, I've been admiring your daffodil with the pink trumpet (it really *is* pink!).