Hi GPODers!

Yesterday we toured Steve Schmidt’s Atlanta garden, which is already filled with an array of flowers and new foliage (Steve’s Springtime in Atlanta). Today, we get to contrast that with the slow start to spring color that Phyllis Strohmeyer captured from her gardens in Hope, New Jersey. Phyllis has shared her beautiful, flower-filled garden a couple of times in the past (check out those submissions here: The Year That Was in Northwestern New Jersey and Highlights from Phyllis’s Garden in New Jersey). Before her beds and borders erupt into their dazzling display of peak-season blossoms, the start of spring brings pockets of bright blooms and fresh foliage as the rest of the garden just begins to emerge from its winter hibernation.

Welcome sign with spent snowdrops in front of andromeda

Crocuses, daffodils, and tulips planted lasagna style last fall

My antique plow, which will be surrounded by flowers in summer

Colorful hyacinths with foxglove rosettes in front

Lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina, Zones 4–8) fiddleheads springing

Rip van Winkle daffodils (Narcissus ‘Rip van Winkle’, Zones 4–8) are perfect for anyone that loves the early color daffodils provide but are looking for a flower shape that is a bit outside the norm. Rip van Winkle is a double daffodil, so each bloom is packed with skinny petals that give each flower a spiky appearance completely unlike their trumpet counterparts.

Another one of the first blooms to emerge in the garden is the summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum, Zones 4–8), which has one of the most deceptive names in the plant world. While the plant sounds like it celebrates summer, it can bloom as early as January in some areas.

Hellebores surrounding our artichoke sculpture. Artichokes symbolize hope, which is the name of our town: Hope, NJ.

Thank you so much for sharing these early signs of spring in your garden, Phyllis! There are few things as exciting as seeing those first green sprouts emerging from the brown fallen leaves, and it’s amazing to get a sense of the transformation that takes place from the start of spring to the height of activity in summer.

What are the earliest spring plants in your garden? Does color burst into your garden quickly, like Steve’s Atlanta garden, or does green growth emerge more slowly, like Phyllis’s New Jersey garden? Let us know in the comments below, or consider sharing your spring garden photos with Garden Photo of the Day! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.

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