The first flowers.

... no wild ones, sorry.

We've had unseasonally warm weather (sunny, too, but that's normal for March) for the last two weeks or so. I've been looking for the very first wildflower for more than a week, but I've had no luck. Others I've talked to have seen coltsfoot, though, and the first butterflies, too.

On Tuesday, I went to check what's in flower in the botanical garden downtown.

No coltsfeet there, either, but the first crocuses were up. And a few other things:

Pic: Spring meadow saffron. Photos from 2004-2006 here: Bulbocodium vernum.
Pic: Winter aconite. You'll find photos of that from 2005 here: Eranthis hyemalis.
Pic: Danford iris. Photos of that from 2002 and 2005 here: Iris danfordiae.

Check the dates on the photos from earlier years ... the current lot are all 3-4 weeks early. They've promised snow within the next two weeks, though, so maybe this is a temporary glitch for this year.

And I went to check on the pulsatillas. I found only one, which currently looks like this:
Pic: pulsatilla. That plant is irresistible to me and my camera when it's in flower, so there's lots and lots of photos here: Pulsatilla vulgaris.

Of course, there's lots of pussy willow pussies, but while they're all nice and silvery, they're not in flower yet. I wonder what the butterflies are eating?