Shooting stars, native, in pink and white. (Also comes in pale purple.)

Viridiflora tulips.

Parrot tulips, a little blown out by the sudden heat wave. The poor tulips were short-lived this year!

Parrot tulip.

I'm not sure if this counts as a parrot or fringed tulip. Dramatic, anyway.

Fringed tulips with camassia, a plant I just love. It was sort of funny -- I didn't pay attention to the size of it when I first ordered the bulbs (plant in fall), and I think I was expecting they'd be sized like spring ephemerals, snowdrops and muscari. Instead, they're huge!

Emerging camassia, with creeping phlox below, Itoh peony to the left.

Itoh peony. Found this one at Costco a few years ago, love it.

Itoh peony.

Not sure if this is an Itoh or tree peony -- both bloom earlier than regular peonies. This was a donation from someone else's garden -- they were redoing it and didn't want it. I feel like I scored -- this bloom is pretty much as big as my head. 🙂

Itoh or tree (?) peony.

Lilacs with Itoh or tree peony and irises getting ready to go.

Lilac and iris.

Remember to cut some lilacs to bring the lovely scent indoors.

Emerging allium (Globemaster, I think), with azaleas behind.

Allium with lilacs -- for those who really love purple.

The columbines are here! Ask a neighbor with them to save some seed heads for you; shake them out where you want the columbines, but don't be surprised if they spread. Easy to pull if they go somewhere you don't want.

Columbines (Granny's bonnet style).

Columbine.

Columbine.

Columbine.

Columbines.

Bridal wreath spirea, which the former homeowner planted too close to the path, but I don't really mind, because it's so glorious right now. I'll cut it back right after it's done blooming. "The spring pruning should be a set of strategic cuts made to reduce the size of the plant. To keep the natural appearance of the shrub, follow the stem you want to remove, back to the point of origin off the main trunk. Make the cut as close to the main trunk as possible. If you just lo… See more

Hardy cranesbill geranium -- pretty, tough, and well-behaved! Blooms from now through fall, a great foundation plant. Plant once, never think about it again. The native geraniums are maculatum and pratense.

Hardy cranesbill geranium.

Spanish bluebells.

Spanish bluebells.

Spanish bluebells.

Spanish bluebells.

Phlox divaricata (native), grows about 8-18 inches. Nice for filling in spots, blooms in spring.

Creeping phlox, good ground cover.

Creeping phlox.

Early iris emerging.

The flowers on Jack Frost brunnera are starting to finish up, but are still providing a lovely haze of blue in the garden, and the variegated leaves will continue to light up shady areas for months.

Tiny brunnera flowers.

I know it's hard to get excited about hellebores when there's so much else going on, but they really have amazing staying power -- still blooming, two months later!

Hellebore with native trillium.

Native trillium.

Native trillium.

Native trillium.

It took daily watering, but the spring planters were able to take one week of summer heat. It was hard on them! Pansies, snapdragons, phlox, artemisia.

Pulmonaria, still blooming. There are more pink varieties available too.

Ajuga "Burgundy Glow" -- the blooms only last a few weeks, but after that, the leaves will turn an interesting reddish shade and hold like that for months.

Violets (native, edible).

Emerging clematis.

Hostas! Sorry I didn't write down the names of these.

Hostas and purple heuchera.

Hosta with curly leaves.

Hostas -- that one on the left is kind of jammed in there; I think it wants to be dug out, divided, and planted elsewhere where it has a little more room to breathe.

I love this combo of pink hellebore and blue-green hosta.