As we received a full 1 inch of snow today in preparation for tomorrow’s inaugural I found myself looking over the pictures of what worked best last year.  And there were a lot of nice looking plants to look back on (and forward to).  But three in particular were new to me and a real pleasure to see how they played out in the garden (as opposed to the garden catalog).  In the front perennial bed we put in three Fritillaria raddeana and only one survived to flower.  However it was really pleasing.  Like the imperialis types it towers above other plants of the season but it’s not so garish as the orange and yellow of the imperialis.

Fritillaria raddeana

Even earlier in the spring the Geum triflorum makes an appearance with simple reddish flower buds which never really open to anything special.  The buds are quite nice however and very welcome in the early season.  These are very hardy plants (native to Saskatchewan) but they like the sun to do their thing.  Their special attribute comes after the flower when they have what is often called a bad hair day.  It’s very special and perhaps better than many flowers.

Geum triflorum 'Prairie Smoke'

Prairie Smoke hair

And finally I had planted 700-800 bulbs including a number of daffodils new to me around the property.  In particular one clump of bulbs in the woods were ‘La belle’ from Brent and Becky.  They are a jonquil type with multiple flowers on a stem.  It was completely delightful to turn the corner of a trail in the woods and come upon these little beauties.  Needless to say I planted more this year.