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How do you select ten great plants for Spring, when there are so many to choose from? Each climate region has it's own special plants that make Spring the most colorful time of the natural year. Here in the Southeast we celebrate our gardens and work in them most of the year. For the foothills of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, I must pay homage to our heralds of Spring.

Impatient for Spring to arrive, we watch for the Lenten Rose (Hellebore orientalis) to bloom at the base of the trees and along the shady spots, often protected from the winter snows. Winter weary eyes seek out the pinkish, lavender and white shades of flowers that hint of the warm days to come. The renewal has begun.

As early as January, the occasional warm day is welcomed by the Winter Honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) bush, it's modest flowers on bare branches are barely visible, but their fragrance will lead you directly to them. Flowering until late March, it is an otherwise simple green shrub that needs to be placed near where you can enjoy the fragrance, perhaps as a green back border to a flowerbed, or as a hedge.

Around the same time, the little Crocus (Crocus spp., especially tommasinianus) start popping their heads through the snow. Plant them in masses for the most dramatic effect, along walkways or wherever a spot of color is most welcome. They can be found in many colors; plant a mass of all one color, or plant them in a mixed group for a natural effect. If needed, go for the Giant Crocus to enjoy an even more prominent show.

Soon the green leaf blades of the Hyacinth (Hyacinth species) push up, shortly followed by the globular budhead. Another week will tell us which of the beautiful colors it is; classic blue, rich purple, deep fuchsia, or pristine white. The fragrance rises in the warm air as you walk by, beckoning you to come closer. I must cut a few to take inside and enjoy.

All at once, the queen of Spring, the infinite varieties of Daffodil (Narcissus spp.) show up everywhere. Fields and pastures, even sunny openings in the woods, announce that Spring has arrived. Helped by their toxicity, deer and cattle will not eat this plant, and mice and rodents avoid the bulbs, insuring their enduring return year after year. From the early yellows, the ruffled doubles and giants, the late poet's daffodil with it's small, vibrant cup, there is a daffodil for every color palate and size, early and late bloomers. She is Spring incarnate.

Bringing they eye closer to the sun, many Magnolia

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