Sometimes in gardening the best results are happy accidents. Both these plants–the golden creeping Jenny and the viola odorata ‘Freckles’ were not planted here. The creeping Jenny came from a container that I had here years ago and the violet has been naturalized all over my yard, most likely by ants, which like the eliaosome that violets have. Since I like the combination, I leave it.
A few warm days have finally coaxed my ‘Elizabeth’ magnolia into bloom.
And my kerria japonica is also blooming. It’s a little late this year. It often blooms about the same time as the forsythia.
This is the close-up of the flowers. For some reason, the single flowered variety is less popular than the double flowered variety. But as I always say, we can’t all like the same thing.
Gardendaze 
You know, I have never seen ‘Elizabeth’ bloom. It became available at the same time that we stopped growing magnolias.
I am such a sucker for magnolias–and they really don’t do well here because of the fickleness of our climate. ‘Elizabeth’ has been a joy because it blooms so late that it usually blooms after the last of the frost and the snow–although if you can imagine, they are calling for more accumulating snow here this weekend. This is truly the year winter won’t die!