Garden win vs fail

It doesn't take long when things get started in the garden...

 The purple Pasque Flower has popped. I bought these as part of a clearance two years ago and I'm so glad I did. When I bought them, they were past flowering, so I had no idea what they looked like.

They are a nice bit of early colour. I liked them so much, I got them in red at last year's clearance

And it's a gorgeous shade of red!

The Turkistan Tulips were one of the first spring bulbs I planted when I moved here.

 And they always give me a couple blooms (though I suspect the squirrels have stolen some of the bulbs). They are a very small, spindly, and delicate tulip - not at all like the ones from Holland. But they are pretty.

The red Dwarf Columbine is really heating up

 

 It  won't be long now. The plant will be afire with bright red blooms.

It's a similar situation with the Bleeding Heart

She's just getting started and soon she's going to be covered in little pink hearts.

The Armeria I was a little worried about it going to be just fine

All those little white buds will be fluffy pink floral tufts soon. This version is a dwarf version. I also have a regular size version, but I'm not seeing any buds on it yet.

I was surprised to see a bud on the Iceland Poppies already though

The are extra special to me because I grew them from seed using the winter sow method. AND it's the first time I've been able to get poppies to come back after winter.

I was also surprised to see an Anemone flower too

I forgot they were spring bloomers (as well as fall). I've got a couple clumps of these and I hope one of the others are the beautiful blue ones I had last year.


But with all these early successes, there's also failure

• Queen Elizabeth Rose. I thought all the roses had made it through, but it looks like QE was faking. There's not a bud on her anywhere. I'm also holding my breath on Chicago Peace and Tournament of Roses... they have buds, but they are tiny, and no where near as robust as the other roses
• Violas. I bought a rainbow of them last year and planted them in the shade of Chicago Peace. Not one as come back. I'm not that surprised. I have no luck with Violas, and they were pretty bug eaten by the end of summer
• Peach Foxglove. Again, this isn't a big surprise. I've had no luck with Foxglove (though Candy Mountain made it through) I'll keep trying though. I love them and so do the bees!
• Sea Holly. This is my second try with Sea Holly but no luck. I think I just have too much clay for it. (It's meant for a more arid climate). The Butterflies are suppose to go gaga over it, but I think I'm going to have to pick something more suited to the yard.
• Double Bloom Susans - Like the Foxglove, I haven't had great luck here. Susans are biennial, but are suppose to reseed themselves. My regular Susans are doing well, and the red ones out front are growing again... but this one just didn't come back.
• Double Bloom Oriental Lily - This one was a surprise. All of my other lilies are growing like gangbusters but this one kicked the bucket. It got shaded by the sunflowers last year, so maybe it just didn't get enough sun to store in the bulb.
• White Bleeding Heart - This one was planted out front, and come fall, it turned yellow and died right off. This pink one out back didn't do that, so I had a feeling it wasn't going to make it.
• Sweet William - I've read that they only tend to live a couple years, so I guess this one just had enough.
• Popcorn Drift Rose - This one is 100% my fault. I move her to the front curb garden and she just didn't like it. I'd moved her a couple times before and she'd always bounced back, but I guess this was one time too many.

There are a couple others that I'm watching and waiting on...

• White Delphinium. All the other Delphiniums are growing like gangbusters, but I'll leave the roots for a couple more weeks and see if anything green pops up
• Cardinal flower - I think I see some life here, but it's almost microscopic, so it's also wait and see
• Last years Toad Lilies - I planted the new ones I ordered, but so far, there's no sign of the original ones. They are late fall bloomers so maybe they are just taking their time.
• Butterfly bush. I'm trying not to get too anxious about this one... but there's not a bud on the thing. The raspberries and lilacs are greening up nicely, but the Butterfly bush is still a pile of bare twigs. But she's done this before, so I'll wait a bit before making a final verdict.

What wins have you got in your garden?