March GBBD: Signs of Spring

It's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day once again,

 time to share our excitement over signs of spring in our gardens.

What is blooming in your garden?  Do you share my passion for pink tulips like these?

Or do you prefer masses of every color competing for attention like these?  Before you leave a comment complimenting me on my beautiful spring garden--don't!  I wish I could claim all these tulips as mine, but both of these photos were taken on Tuesday at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show.

Actually, the tulips in my own garden look like this.  And I suspect most tulips in real Chicagoland gardens look like this as well, perhaps not even this far along, considering Chicago has had much more snow and colder temperatures than we have had.

Still, I am happy to see these promises of spring; I know it won't be long before these daffodils will be sporting golden blooms.

A year ago, after the crazy mild winter we had, I had hellebores, crocuses, and daffodils blooming at this time in March.  This year is more typical, and the hellebores are full of fat buds instead of blooms.

I'm hoping for some mild--and dry--weather one of these days to trim the foliage back on all of these so that their lovely faces can get the attention they deserve.

One lonely little snowdrop still remains.  I've been waiting for more of these to appear each year, but instead the numbers seem to be dwindling.

The first buds on the crocus are another welcome sign.  In mid-March of last year, I had crocuses in full bloom everywhere.  But I won't complain--this hasn't been a bad winter at all, compared to many places.  I don't remember a day when the temperature dipped below zero, and all the winter snowstorms passed us by, leaving no more than an inch or two of snow at a time.

Still, I am ready for spring . . . I just need a little patience.

Having been pretty much out of the blogging loop the past eight weeks (just finished my eight-week stint of teaching!), I realized that this past week marked my fifth-year blog anniversary.  The second post I wrote that first year, back in '08, was a Bloom Day post, and the only "bloom" I had was some green foliage on the yarrow.  Today is my 61st GBBD post--I haven't missed one in five years--and I'm so happy to have this invaluable record of how my garden has changed over these past few years.  A big thank-you to our hostess Carol at May Dreams Gardens for being such an inspiration and reminding us all that we "CAN have flowers all year long."