"My favorite spring flower is the trillium. After the bleak cold and harshness of winter, the trillium breaks forth early, with a purity and beauty that is stunning. It says to all that behold its beauty…”There’s a new optimism in the air and I’m the one who is announcing it”. We have trilliums growing nearby. I make it a point to see and enjoy them every spring."

"Not unlike any spring flower, the columbine plant's attraction is that it arrives soon in the spring. Its early arrival quenches a gardener's thirst for life and color after a long winter. The exquisite juxtaposition of smooth and pointed tiers of petals give it a unique shape, mimicking a bell to ring in the blooms to come in the heat of summer."

"Long ago I searched for a yellow flower for the shade garden and came upon Trollius. Some years it yields dozens of globe-like bright yellow flowers on gangly stalks. This year we had one lone flower."

"My favorite spring blooming plant is Brunnera Macrophylla. Not many perennials have a true blue flower so it’s always a delight to come upon a mound of them in bloom. The quarter inch five-petal flowers spring up on delicate stems nestled among fuzzy heart shaped leaves. An extra bonus is that it blooms for weeks on end."

"I love this tiny flower with a big fragrance." 

"Jack-In-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) Wildflower native to 48 states. Woodland environment, shady moist rich soil. Also called Indian turnip. Single leaf with 3 leaflets on a stem. Tiny flowers are on a spike which is encircled by a leaf like spathe on a separate stem from the leaf. The spathe is green or purple & usually striped. The red berries which develop later are favored by critters but produce many plants."

"My pick for favorite spring bloom in the shade is Lathyrus vernus aka "spring vetchling". The violet -blue color of this non-vining pea flower is so beautiful. It blooms at the same time as late daffodils and Hellebores in my garden. I have it growing in dry shade and in moist sunnier spots, too. It is very adaptable.

"One of my favorites is the Jack-in-the-Pulpit. It is so secretive in the shade and yet when the seeds are ripe it shows so red."

"At first glance Wild Ginger is just a lovely ground cover. But under the heart shaped leaves are exotic looking flowers. A terrific flower to put on a nature scavenger hunt list for young aspiring horticulturalists."

"Besides being my favorite color, this plant gives a beautiful pop of color to your shade garden. "

"Hellebore is one of my favorite spring shade flowers"

"One of the earliest to bloom in my shade garden is Spring Beauty, which is native to Wisconsin. The flower is very delicate purple and is only about 1/2 inch across. Mine grows at the base of the paper birch tree inter-planted with Maidenhair ferns and bleeding hearts."

"No question here ! My favorite shade garden perennial is the giant purple Allium. I have them all through my 50 foot rock garden and they are gorgeous.....especially when they are backlit by the late afternoon sun. The neighbors ask "What is that flower" so they can plant them too. And when the flower is finished, they look like a giant web!"

"Our beautiful Japanese Fernleaf Peony bush is over 60 yrs. old!"