It is always a pleasure when Elle Ronis sends in photos of her magical garden in Stamford, Connecticut. We’ve visited her garden before (Flowers Big and Small and Shrubs for High-Impact, Low-Work Gardening), and she grows a wide range of beautiful plants.

Butterfly ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus, butterly series) in full bloom. This is a particularly lovely strain of ranunculus developed in Japan. If you garden in Zone 7 or warmer, you can plant ranunuculus in the fall for an incredible spring bloom like this. In colder climates, they can be planted early in the spring, or in a greenhouse or cold frame in the fall.

Pots of ranunculus lining the walk for a marvelous spring display.

More ranunculus showing off behind a trough of small rock-garden plants.

Assorted Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) showing their spring color. With the right varieties, leaf color in spring can be as beautiful as leaf color in fall.

‘Avondale’ redbud (Cercis chinensis ‘Avondale’, Zones 6–9). This is a relative of our native redbud from Asia, which produces an incredible number of flowers.

Magnolia ‘Coral Lake’ (Zones 5–9). This hybrid magnolia has fragrant flowers and has been bred to bloom a little later so that it is more likely to avoid having the flowers damaged by a late spring frost.

The red flowers of Magnolia ‘Genie’ (Zones 5–9) are some of the darkest-colored blooms produced by any magnolia.

This double primrose looks like it is from the Belarina series (Primula hybrid, Zones 4–8). This series of primroses have ruffly, double flowers and wonderful vigor, though in general they are best in climates with relatively cool summers.

Another double primrose, this one in a rich purple.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!

Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.