Snowdrops

The developers didn't do much, if anything, with quite a large chunk of property next to the parking lot.  (Well, except for weeding out the sunflowers which I had tried to keep alive, by hand watering, during the hottest part of the summer.)

There is an area not too far from our property where people seem to have dumped quite a bit of yard waste.  In the late winter, there are clumps of snow drops, crocuses, daffodils, and other bulb based flowers.  So, last year, after most of them had died back, I had taken note of where the flowers had come up, and went and dug until I found some bulbs.  I took a few bulbs from the edges of a number of different clumps, and then planted them behind my car's parking space.  Predictably, the landscapers didn't do anything in this area, except dump another layer of mulch on it in the late summer.

So, the fact that these plants have survived the neglect, as well as an exceptional (for this part of the world) cold snap of two weeks duration, is the reason that I have been so chuffed about the little green shoots that have been showing up.  And, yes, I can now confirm that the earliest of the green shoots were, in fact, snowdrops.  I am reasonably confident that another clump of shoots, in a slightly darker green colour, are likely crocuses.  I think there is at least one Narcissus in the area, and possibly also a hyacinth.  So, as silly as it may seem, I am absolutely delighted that there is a bed of these hardy early spring flowers behind my (and only my) parking space.