There are several things blooming in a quiet way before the full blast of the spring perennials take over. The Blue Dart Vinca is just beautiful this year. It must have been the snow cover. Those Orange Emperor Tulips will not give up making a final showing in the cooler and a little shadier part of the garden.
My strange fern is up and it looks like it could be from the dinosaur age. I identified it at a local garden center but did not write down the name. Bleeding Hearts are in full bloom on the north side of my garden and Viburnum Carlesi Compactum is full of blooms with a most heady fragrance by my front walk. The Amelanchier Regent was beautiful about a week ago as per the picture Anemone Sylvistris is blooming on the south side of the garden
The vegetable garden looks very colorful this year as I made it a point to grow some unusually named lettuces in some colors that just pop. The carrots are sprouting between the lettuce, as most of my lettuce usually is done by July, seed onions are coming up between the sets. It's an experiment called layering, so we'll see if it works.