Also in the garden today was this inquisitive neighbour with no respect for social distancing. As I snapped this photo, I realized they were heading straight for the open door to my apartment!

But at least they didn't make a fuss when I picked them up to bring back outside.

And since I'm going through photos, some new buds among the spring flowers.

Forget-me-nots, Siberian squill, snow crocus (and striped squill), bleeding hearts.

More flowers from the past week(-ish). I planted literally hundreds of bulbs last fall, so I've been keeping notes on what is doing well & how they look in context.

Striped squill is the definite winner for earliest blooms. They're popping up all over, and started 2 weeks before their purple Siberian cousins. The blossoms emerge from the ground at the same time as the leaves, and open up into a elegant cluster soon after.

I bought a collection of four types (85 bulbs) of snow crocuses. All very lovely so far, but I'm wishing that I'd bought a few giant crocuses & bought more bright colors — the pale ones fade into the ground. Yellows and purples are much more effective at inspiring “it's spring!”

Quibbles aside, they're still doing way better than the giant crocuses I bought at the local hardware store a few years back, which haven't flowered in 3 springs. But at least a few are alive, unlike daffodils planted the same time.

This is why I mail-ordered my bulbs this year.

That mail order included a 100-count bag of muscari (grape hyacinth) which I hid like Easter eggs all around the yard.

The ones in the shady garden came up first (this corner doesn't get much snow, so thawed out quickly), but it took a few weeks for leaves to turn to flowers.

Stay tuned for updates when the tulips, checkered lilies, dwarf iris, and assorted other things (seriously, I can't even remember what all I planted and where) decide to show their flower-faces.

A correction to this thread. The new little purple buds this week are not Siberian squill, they are “glory of the snow”.

Which is apparently these days classified as another type of squill, though the store had it listed under an older name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla_forbesii

Now that I think about it, although I wanted to buy Siberian squill, Vesey's didn't have any last year.

Did I mention that I planted so many I couldn't keep track? I saw the plant that looked like the striped squill, except purple, and thought “oh, I know what that is!”

Or not.