Cherry Ong is taking us along to a see early spring bloomers at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, British Columbia, on a perfectly sunny spring day.

Now that is a happy clump of crocus. I think it might be Crocus ancyrensis ‘Golden Bunch’ (Zones 4–8), but I’m not sure.

Big drifts of crocuses, mostly Crocus tommasinianus (Zones 4–8) it looks like, are taking over as snowdrops (Galanthus, Zones 3–8) finish up.

Sweeps of snowdrops are still in bloom along the Rhododendron Garden Path.

Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ (Zones 4–8) is known for its vigor and relative squirrel resistance. It has extra-large, extra-showy flowers and blooms with abandon.

Calluna vulgaris ‘Zoe’ (Zones 4–8) is putting on a fiery show in the Heather Garden. That intense red color is from the foliage, not the flowers. A yellow-green in the summer, it blushes this red color in the winter months.

Stewartia monodelpha (Zones 6–8) has incredible bark. Cherry says that she has not forgotten this tree since her first visit and always looks for it in the garden.

More gorgeous crocuses spreading and showing off.

The mossy setting shows off these crocuses beautifully, and it won’t need to be mowed like a lawn does. This will allow the crocus foliage to mature naturally and store up energy for next year’s bloom.

Cherry says she came specifically to see these bowls of floating hellebore (Helleborus hybrids, Zones 4 – 9) blooms because she loves hellebores so much!

Because hellebore blooms hang down, displaying them this way allows you to really appreciate all their beauty and diversity.

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