Top 5: Spring Flowers

It's spring! Well, not quite, but it looks like spring, feels like spring, sounds like spring, and even smells like spring, so I'm calling it. The local ice cream stand was even open today, which in my hometown means the new season is in full-swing. For me, springtime means flowers (and SweeTart's Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies for Easter, but that's another story), so in honor of the gorgeous weather this weekend today's Top 5 is featuring my favorite spring flowers.

5. Daffodils

One of the sure signs that warm weather is here for good is when daffodils start blooming all over the countryside. My mom has them planted in long rows along a fence and in a flower bed in front of our house that become a bank of sunny yellow in the springtime. I love that they basically all grow to the same uniform height, it looks like they grow that way on purpose.

4. Tulips

Tulips aren't necessarily one of my favorite flowers - they're kind of a boring shape - but I love that a garden near where I live plants scads of them. Every year people start asking "Are the tulips at Kingwood Gardens open yet?" Once they're blooming the park is gorgeous and people (meaning me) love to stroll along the brick pathways, admire the plants, and hope to see one of the many peacocks that stroll through the grounds. It's a great way to spend a warm afternoon. 

3. Grape Hyacinths

These are random little flowers - they look almost like weeds, they're so simple and tiny, but they have always been a favorite of mine. They only grow to about 4 inches high and have bright purple round blossoms that resemble a tiny bunch of concord grapes. They bloom in the same shape as full-size hyacinths but are almost perfect miniatures, which is probably why I have liked them since I was a little girl and would pick them from the yard to take to my Grandmother's house.

2. Crocuses

You know spring has officially sprung when the crocuses sprout in the ground and start blooming. We've had snow on top of blooming crocuses here before, but it's Ohio, so things like that are to be expected. They're also purple and grow close to the ground, but have six large petals that open to reveal that they fade to white in the middle and have a bright saffron-yellow center. You can't really pick them but they're still lovely.

1. The Tiny Wildflowers that Grow In My Backyard

My absolute favorite season in Ohio is the few weeks during springtime when all the tiny wildflowers bloom in my backyard. My family lives up in the woods - my dad actually cleared out trees to make space for our house - so all of the land that is now our yard used to be part of a strip of woods that runs through our neighborhood. These tiny flowers usually grow amongst trees in the damp leafy soil and spring up in large patches around our house, giving the grass a blanket of pinkish white blossoms just a few inches high. According to Ohio-Nature.com they're simply called "Spring Beauty," which is a perfect name, in my opinion.

Honorable Mention: Dutchman's Britches! These are the most hilarious of all spring wildflowers. And they actually do look like a bunch of upside-down bloomers. I just want to know who named a flower after pants, how weird is that?