Yesterday at Seattle’s Northwest Flower & Garden Festival I did enjoy the forced spring bulbs, especially this uplit and almost spooky daffodil.

Mysterious lighting for this harbinger of spring, the daffodil.

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Pink ladies are a kind of amaryllis (amaryllis Belladona) hardy in my zone 8b. I recently removed a tree that was shading these pink ladies and they finally feel like blooming. They are very fragrant. Their foliage comes up in the winter and dies back, but the flower stalks emerge with no leaves in August, which is why they are sometimes called naked ladies. In parts of Northern California you can see fabulous, huge banks of them naturalized along roadsides.

Pink ladies thrive in full sun with sharp drainage, shown in front of iris foliage

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Chionodoxa, little bulbs commonly known as glory-of-the-snow, bloom in very early spring. So welcome on a recent sunny day.

Starry little flowers in my garden in early spring

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Don’t you just love the cheery crocus, blooming so early?

White and purple crocus flowers with their darling orange centers

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The little mini-daffodils are up! Spring will definitely get here, but first Seattle is due for some cold and snow this week. I’ll keep you posted.

Mini daffodils and some primroses blooming in February

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These lovely spring flowers were in a display at Wave Hill NY one March day a few years ago. Wouldn’t you love these on your front step?

Pansies, daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinths blooming in containers

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I can feel the light growing! The earth has tipped its axis and the daylight begins to return. Happy New Year to you and yours.

Red amaryllis and paperwhites, blooming even in dark times

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What a year. We are all so grateful for the return of the light. May your world be bright!

Paperwhite narcissus bulbs bloom in winter solstice sunshine

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Went outside the other day in a dry break and was thrilled to see these bluebell sprouts pushing up already. It’s not even technically winter yet and they speak to us of spring.

Green tips of spring flowers getting started early

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Also called “naked ladies” for their habit of flowering in the summer without their leaves, which appear and disappear earlier in the year. But I think they kind of look like naked ladies anyway, don’t they? At least some pink versions.

In Northern CA where I lived for many years these amaryllis relatives thrived and multiplied on sunny banks, no rain at all in the summer, creating masses of pink bliss every August. I am thrilled that I can get these to bloom at all in Seattle.

Pink Ladies or Belladona flowers are fragrant, too!

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