Dear PBSers, Although we have had a long dreary winter with few days of sunshine and too many days of snow cover, some things are blooming. Actually we rarely have such extended snow cover and this may have encouraged some of this early growth. Here's a brief list: Crocus C sieberi 'Firefly' - A favorite pale lilac that clumps up and seems to move around the garden. We've never planted any in the path, but now clumps pop up each spring. Squirrels? C. ancyrensis - Tiny brilliant golden yellow. One of our smallest species, but the color has a big impact. C. siberi 'Bowles White' -just a couple flowers open. C. sieberi 'Tricolor - do you see a pattern here? The color with its bold deep purple, gold and white is great singly or in a clump. C. tommasinianus (sp?) - in a variety of shades including seed grown mixes. A large patch of 'Ruby Giant' just appearing and other wide spread plantings not yet up at all. These bloom in 'waves' in various parts of the garden, but all are excellent. Narcissus 'Cedric Morris' an N. minor cv that can bloom easily in late Jan, through Mar depending on the winter. We keep a plastic bell jar over it to protect it from rabbit and other critters eating the foliage and buds. It can take the full brunt of snow and cold. Just wish it multiplied more vigorously. RES 'Rynveld's Early Sensation' just opening its first flowers. Reliably and a good sign of real spring. Galanthus 'Mighty Atom -NOT' an un-named vaguely similar to 'S. Arnott', but bigger, more vigorous and all round best snowdrop in the garden. Single bulbs transplanted a few years ago are multi-flowered clumps in a very short time. Time to spread more bulbs around. Our favorite by far. G. 'S. Arnott' - as above, but less so G. elwesii monostictus. Bold glaucous foliage and good size flowers. Newly confirmed ID (Thanks John). We've enjoyed it for years under 'no name'. like most of our Galanthus, alas. G. elwesii -typical is a wimp here. Not even vaguely garden worthy I suspect it does not like our edge-of-prairie conditions. G. nivalis -single and double -the latter barely open yet. G ?? Way too many without an ID. Frustratingly difficult to pinpoint names especially when so many seem to under-grow their potential in my harsher growing climate conditions. Eranthis - Winter Aconites. You gotta love these with bright gold flowers perched on top of a crown of green. Slowly self sowing here and we actively spread seed among Hellebores and such. We've tried a few variants, but with slow success. Adonis amurensis- marginally 'bulbous', but pops up and open with the first rays of bright sunshine. Two clumps a few feet apart, but one has multiplied well with over a dozen flowering stems, the other sits with one or two flowers per year. Hyacinths- no not blooming, but big pointed green 'noses' are an inch up including a couple different colors of Dutch hybrids and multiflora in a mix of colors, too. They do just fine, but are very slow to multiply. The list seems a bit long, but it will multiply in just a few short weeks as more genera and species are added to the 'bloom list'. Can spring be far behind? Enjy Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +