Galanthus nivalis bulbs

Last year snowdrops (perce-neige) were the very first flowers up in our neighbourhood, and very welcome after the long winter. (Last year, Helen's first snowdrop came up in late February!

Dicentra cucullaria: foliage and flowers

Dicentra cucullaria, known in English as "Dutchman's breeches" and in French as dicentre à capuchon, is a perennial woodland spring ephemeral native to parts of North America. It forms mounds of delicately fringed leaves and very nifty and reconizable flowers shaped like little white pants (hanging waist-down as though from a clothesline).

I had never seen this plant in real life, and was very pleased to discover it in a neighbour's garden.

Galanthus nivalis: flowers

Galanthus nivalis, known in English as "garden snowdrop" or "common snowdrop" and in French as perce-neige, is a spring ephemeral perennial native to Europe. Its small white flowers with green markings are among the first blooms in gardens in the spring.

Here are some more fully developed snowdrops from that same garden on Woodbine where I photographed budding snowdrops last week.

Galanthus nivalis: buds

Galanthus nivalis, known in English as "garden snowdrop" or "common snowdrop" and in French as perce-neige, is a spring ephemeral perennial native to Europe. Its small white flowers with green markings are among the first blooms in gardens in the spring. These were photographed in a garden on Woodbine.

Iris reticulata 'Cantab': flowers

Iris reticulata, known in English as reticulated iris, dwarf wild iris, and rockgarden iris, and in French as iris réticulé, is a dwarf perennial native to southern Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The flowers appear very early in the spring, about 10 cm from the ground; later long thin leaves grow to 20-30 cm before the plant goes dormant at the end of spring.

This light blue cultivar is 'Cantab', which I bought at Veseys; different cultivars include blues and violets, as well as white.

Eranthis hyemalis: flower

Eranthis hyemalis, known in English as winter aconite and in French as éranthe d'hiver, helléborine, hellébore d'hiver or aconit d'hiver is a perennial native to southern France to Bulgaria. One of the earliest flowers of spring, a single bright yellow flower, like that of a buttercup, is borne on a short (less than 10 cm) stem. Below the flower, the stem is circled by two leaves which resemble a clown's neck ruffle. After setting seed, the plant becomes dormant (i.e. it is a "spring ephermeral").

The flowers have a pretty fragrance, but you have to get low to the ground to smell it!

I bought my winter aconite pips from Veseys.