To Have the First Flowers Next Spring

Would you like to be the first person in your neighborhood to have flowers in their garden next year? To be able to admire beautiful flowers when there’s still a lot of snow around? It’s not hard to do, but you’ll have to do it this fall, not in the spring, if you want to win the contest. And it’s so simple: just buy the right plants and put them in the right place, that’s all.

The Earliest Flower Is…

In our region, the first plant to bloom in spring is inevitably… a willow! Yes, those little gray kittens are flowers, and they’re already coming out sometimes in February, if not certainly in March, while the landscape is still covered in snow. Usually, the plant is still completely encased in snow and ice, but already, under the snow, the ground is beginning to warm up, stimulating budburst.

The pussy willow (Salix discolor) is probably the most common species here in Quebec, growing wild throughout the region. It is a shrub that can sometimes become a small tree. Unfortunately, it’s not widely available commercially: to get one, you almost have to take cuttings from a wild plant. The smallest stem of this plant, simply pushed into the ground, without further preparation, will produce a new plant.

The Catkin willow loves full sun and moist soil! It can reach 6 m (20 ft) in height, but responds well to even severe pruning after winter flowering, so it’s not difficult to keep under control. As a shrub, its roots are not very invasive, so there’s no risk of them breaking through pipes or seeping into cracks in houses, as the roots of large willows like the weeping willow can do. Hardiness: zone 2.

European Pussy Willow

Oddly enough, our gardeners prefer an imported willow that is much less hardy: the Goat willow: S. caprea. It’s easy to find in nurseries, especially in its weeping form, ‘Kilmarnock’ (‘Pendula’). It is quite comparable to the native pussy willow in its requirements… but is zone 4. The weeping form, in particular, sometimes suffers from winter frost, as it is grafted onto a hardy willow stem. A grafting point is always a weak point for a plant, and as the grafting point of this weeping willow is at the head of the plant and therefore particularly exposed to the elements, the risk of damage is high. Better to buy the non-weeping form if you want a plant with more punch.

Flowers With a Little More Show

Granted, willows are the first plants to bloom, but their hairy white flowers, especially against a background of white snow, don’t necessarily have the impact you’d expect from a “real flower”. So often the choice of gardeners looking for a particularly early-blooming plant is spring-flowering bulbs. They follow willows by almost a month in terms of the earliness of their flowering, because the snow must be gone… at least where the bulbs are located.

Two Bulbs Tied for First Place

Two species are in the running for the prize of “first bulbous plant to bloom in spring”… and it’s usually impossible to name a winner, as both usually bloom simultaneously, sometimes the very day the snow melts. Often there’s still a snow bank less than 15 cm (6 inches) away and already they’re blooming. The two winners are: snowdrops and eranthus.

The snowdrop

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) is the better-known of the two bulbs, and the more widely available too. It’s a small plant with ribboned, grass-like leaves and an arching flower stalk bearing a hanging white flower. If you turn the flower over, you’ll see three white sepals surrounding a green and white crown. The bulb should be planted in a hole about 8 to 10 cm (3-4 inches) deep, in well-drained soil and in a location that receives spring sunshine.

This bulb, like other spring-flowering bulbs, goes dormant after flowering, so it can be planted, pointed side up, under deciduous trees that will create plenty of shade later in the season, because when the snowdrop is in leaf, it’s still full sun. The bulbs are very evergreen, forming small dense clumps over time that can decorate your grounds for 40 years or more, provided they are in well-drained soil. This bulb doesn’t multiply by seed in our climate, so it will stay where you planted it. If you want more, you can divide the bulbs after flowering.

The Winter Aconite

Eranthis, also known as winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), couldn’t be more different from the snowdrop. Each little bulb (in fact, a tuber) produces a single short stem bearing two sharply cut leaves that form a collar just below the single flower. It’s not very big, but it’s quite showy, resembling a buttercup (the buttercup, Ranunculus, is a close relative) or a small, bright yellow rose.

Eranthe is more difficult to establish than snowdrops. First, you need to find tubers (and they’re not very common on the market), but you also need to plant them very early, as soon as they arrive in the store. Soak them in water for 24 hours for best results. Once established, eranthus multiplies readily by seed, eventually forming a carpet as far as the eye can see!

Then, the Crocus

Finally, a little more choice! With crocus (Crocus spp.) you’ll find everything: small-flowered, large-flowered, very early, medium early and mid-season bloomers, as well as purples, whites, blues, lavenders and yellows. Crocus is readily available everywhere and starts flowering just a few days after snowdrops and eranthus. Although hardy, it is not always very persistent in our climate, especially in heavy, loamy soils, so it often has to be replaced after 4 or 5 years. On the other hand, in well-drained, loose soil, it can live for a very long time.

A Trick to Get There First

To win any competition, you need technique (and little bulbs have the technique to bloom early), but knowing a few tricks doesn’t hurt either. So, if you really want to be the first person around you with flowers in their flowerbeds, plant a few bulbs close to the foundation of your house, on the south side. The snow often melts early there, leaving a thin melt in the snow cover. Well, in that thinness, you’ll see your little bulbs, out of reach, but blooming nonetheless, as early as mid-March. They say a bird can’t make a spring, but a flower can! So, by the time your neighbors are in winter, you’re already in season.

Be aware that bulbs are arriving in stores these days: get in quick if you want to get in on the flower race, as choice is dwindling fast.

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Larry Hodgson published thousands of articles and 65 books over the course of his career, in both French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published in Le Soleil on September 18, 2005.