One of flowerdom’s biggest benefits – especially in this decidedly wintry winter of “conveyor-belt” snows and icings – is that flowers remind us that spring is on the way.
Some flowering plants have the good marketing sense to bloom while the calendar still reads winter, jacking up their appreciation rating way more than if they performed when so much else is blooming in May.
Having a few early-bloomers around not only adds color to a white and brown landscape, it shines hopeful light down this pandemic-laced cold tunnel.
Here’s a look at a dozen worthy central-Pennsylvania choices that are first out of the gate:
Snowdrops are the first bulb flowers out of the gate in late winter.
Snowdrops
These little white, bell-shaped, hanging bulb flowers are so cold-tough that they’re often up and blooming in February – often poking up as soon as melting snow uncovers them.
Plant them in October, four to six inches apart in a mass where you can see them out a favorite window.
They naturalize nicely under trees and shrubs.
Winter aconite is another little bulb that's very early on the trigger.
Winter aconite
Another small and very early little bulb, winter aconite hugs the ground to produce a mat of cheery gold cup-shaped flowers, usually in late February to early March.
Mass them and plant them the same way as snowdrops.
Their golden blooms look especially nice under and around evergreens.
Crocuses are cheery little bulbs that most often bloom in purple.
Crocuses
A third late-winter bulb choice is this shortie that produces upward-facing cup-like flowers – most often in lavender or purple but sometimes in white, yellow, and bicolor shades.
Crocuses grow only three to four inches tall and colonize well for years if the bunnies and rodents don’t get them. If you’re worried about that, look for “Tommie” types (Crocus tommasinianus), which seem to be least tasty to animals.
Lenten rose is the first perennial flower to bloom each year, sometimes even in January.
Lenten rose
Known botanically as Helleborus, Lenten rose is a super-cold-hardy perennial flower that not only stays green through most winters but opens its hanging white, pink, or rose flowers way earlier than any other perennial.
I’ve had Lenten roses blooming on Jan. 1 already.
They also offer the benefit of doing well in dry shade and root competition, and being toxic when eaten, they aren’t a target of deer, bunnies, or groundhogs either.
Forsythias don't bloom for long, but they pick a good time of year to do it.
Forsythia
These old-fashioned landscape staples might only flower for two weeks and then look like rangy, unkempt bushes the rest of the year, but those flowers are plentiful, bright gold, and come at a time when we’re just about to turn the corner into better weather.
Plant them in the background so they stand out when the foreground is still sleeping, then fade away as other plants come to life.
Check out recent introductions like Goldilocks and Gold Tide if you want something more compact than the traditional eight- to 10-footers.
Witch hazels are tall shrubs with early-spring (and sometimes fall) spidery flowers.
Witch hazel
These small trees (or tall bushes, depending on your perspective) are the first to get going, opening their spidery red, orange, or yellow flowers in winter’s waning weeks even before the leaves appear.
Some types are native, and most of them add the dimension of brilliant fall foliage to the super-early flowers.
Figure on 12- to 15-foot heights and sunny to partly shaded locations.
The Cornelian cherry dogwood is not only the earliest dogwood species to bloom, it blooms in yellow instead of the more familiar pink or white.
Cornelian cherry dogwood
Few people know this small member of the dogwood family – one that blooms yellow in March instead of the more familiar white- or pink-blooming May favorite.
Cornelian cherry dogwoods are slow and trouble-free growers, and they put out edible (though sour) cherry-like red fruits in fall.
Figure on 18 to 20 feet tall and almost as wide in sun or part shade.
Saucer magnolias produce big pink-white flowers in very early spring.
Star and saucer magnolias
These two types of magnolia trees are two other early-blooming trees.
Star magnolias are small (12- to 15-foot range) and bloom white or light pink in March, while the saucer magnolia is a bigger shade tree (25 feet tall and wide or more) that blooms heavily in a blend of lavender-pink and white, also in March.
Neither are deer favorites, and both grow best in full sun to light shade.
This variety of hardy camellia, April Rose, survives most central-Pennsylvania winters and produces rose-like flowers in very early spring.
Hardy camellia
Camellias are popular Southern small trees with glossy, evergreen leaves and pink, red, or white rose-like flowers, but we can grow some of the cold-hardier types in central Pennsylvania.
Look for anything in the April or Winter’s series (April Rose, April Blush, Winter’s Charm, Winter’s Rose) or for a white-bloomer called ‘Snow Flurry.’
Plants grow best in acidic soil in a partly shaded, wind-protected area. They typically grow to around 10 or 12 feet tall and occasionally die back to the ground in an unusually cold northern winter.
This mature PJM rhododendron is shown blooming heavily in early spring at Hershey Gardens.
PJM rhododendron
One of the earliest bloomers in the azalea/rhododendron family is this commonly available variety with the magenta-purple flowers in late winter.
PJM rhododendrons look more like small-leafed azaleas than the big-leafed rhododendrons that flower in May, and they also offer some decent maroon fall foliage.
They grow four to five feet tall and wide and do best in a site with morning sun and afternoon shade.
This clump of 'February Gold' is in full bloom just as winter hands off to spring.
Early daffodils
Daffodils are among the earliest of the mainstream bulbs to flower, but a few short-statured versions of them beat most everything else to the punch.
Check out gold-blooming six-inchers such as ‘Tete-e-Tete,’ ‘February Gold,’ and ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’ for some of the best March performers.
Daffodils bloom best in full sun, seldom run into animal troubles, and usually spread with age instead of dying out, as tulips usually do.
Like forsythia, winter jasmine is a rangy, yellow-blooming shrub that's among the first to show color each new season.
Winter jasmine
Somewhat similar to forsythia, winter jasmine is a rambling, arching shrub that can be grown either as a knee- to waist-high groundcover or trained up a support as a vine.
It’s definitely a one-dimensional plant, though, flaring into a showy mass of bright-yellow flowers for two weeks in March and then looking a bit “wild” to most eyes the rest of the season.
It’ll do sun or part shade and is best planted in a background setting where summer plants hide it after the spring show.
The Link LonkFebruary 25, 2021 at 07:40PM
https://www.pennlive.com/gardening/2021/02/12-early-blooming-plants-and-flowers-that-will-chase-the-winter-blues-away.html
12 early-blooming plants and flowers that will chase the winter blues away - pennlive.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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