Of the true wild trees…
Serviceberry is normally the first to bloom (white) here… followed by redbud (red/pink)… then dogwood (white).
This year serviceberry and red buds started blooming about the same time. I have seen years when serviceberry bloomed a good week before redbuds.
Dogwoods always start blooming a week or so after redbuds.
Wild american plums… which i have only seen a few of around here… bloom early and white.
All my earliest blooms here are purple, too. Anemone blanda probably first of all.
Which raises the question whether the earliest blooms really are yellow, or just some places. Maybe it’s partly a matter of latitude?
My asian plum types and apricot have more bud swell now than my serviceberry. The asian plums like my bubblegum, pluerry and pluot are wanting to push leaf in March and our last frost is not until May.
I think it’s just safe to bundle all three (white, yellow, purple) of those colors together as the most bright and showy to pollinators. Early in the season when warm weather isn’t a given they can’t rely on scents so they probably all skew to be very visually based strategies
My periwinkles bloom before forsythia and they are next to each other.
Are the periwinkles close to the ground? I’m thinking they may benefit from retained heat.
Yes, they are ground cover. You have a good point.
Snowdrops for us in SE PA–in January. The yellows follow, but white is first.
I cannot explain the why, but I am always glad for the color to brighten up my day.
Just yesterday I was sharing with my siblings how this year seems to be the strongest for daffodil blooms that I ever recall.
Harbinger of Spring is first here, most years, but it’s so tiny that many folks don’t even notice it. Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa)
That said, I had purple crocuses blooming prior to the snows we got a month ago, in mid-February
I had always noticed that my yellow crocuses came up a few days before my purple ones! Never thought to wonder why.
This year they were only a two days apart (Mar 6th yellow, Mar 8th purple). Usually I feel like the spread is a bit more.
I actually wrote a short paper on the subject (in part because I dislike yellow), but did not find any good answers. My specialty is things that bloom in winter. In zone 7 I often have one or two camellias with some blooms in January and even february. (not yellow). Some years my prunus mume has bloomed in late January, but sometimes not til March (it apparently needs certain chill hours). Witchhazels, but they were originally all yellow so doesn’t really count. And hellebores. So, yes, yellow is very common, but not at all exclusive.
So I went and found the paper I wrote for an ecology class. Remember that what looks yellow to us, may not look the same to a bee which can see UV; bees thermoregulate more than many insects, but I could not find a reference connecting that to yellow. Here’s the main idea not discussed above:
It is possible that more non-specialist pollinators prefer yellow. This probably derives from ancestors that were looking for pollen. It makes sense for an early blooming flower that is not competing for pollinators with a host of other flowers not to require a particular pollinator, and would indeed be anxious for any possible pollinator. Bees, particularly short-tongued ones, often show some preference for yellow, though it is very context dependent and they prefer blue under some conditions. Ostler and Harper found more blue flowers in areas with many species and more yellow flowers where there was less diversity.
Spring blooms are really starting to take off here.
Daffodils have started, most are yellow. Dandelions have been blooming for a few weeks, and were blooming off and on before the cold spell we had in January. Carolina jasmine and forsythia are blooming as well, all yellow.
Some of the earlier plum varieties are in bloom, most are white or white with some pinkish hues. Callery pears are blooming now, white to greenish white. Osmanthus and fatsia are more of winter-bloomers than early spring bloomers, but they are white (some osmanthus are yellow too).
Camelias started blooming in late fall and will continue blooming until late spring depending on the variety. Most are red or pink, but there are some white varieties. Red maples are blooming now as well, and of course are red.
Henbit is in full bloom now, it’s purple. Hyacinths are started their blooming as well, and the wisteria will probably bloom soon, all are purple. Likewise, the redbuds will soon be blooming, and they’re usually purple to pinkish.
The little wild pansies and some other tiny flowers that grow in the lawn have been blooming pretty regularly during any warm stretch during the winter. They’re mostly white, but with yellow, pink, and purple here and there.
