A blanket of snow is waging futile resistance to the 40 degree sunshine outside my house. Soon enough, the race will be on.

The evergreen, but barely recognizable Pulmanaria may look dead, but are the first to put on that intense shade of green, with the added effect of white polka dots for good measure. The challenger to be first again this year are Dutchman's Breeches, a short blooming woodland plant, but tough as nails, sending up carrot-like doilies through the frozen soil.

Perhaps it's because the Dutchman's Breeches are up and gone in a couple of months time, or maybe because Pulmanaria is a more mainstream garden-store plant, but for whatever reason, I'm pulling for the Dutchman again this year.

You just have to admire them for showing up for work so early, though.

I planted six bare root plants around six years ago. They finally showed up last year, all at once, blooming like mad. The bees absolutely love these plants, and kept returning all summer to check on some kind of re-bloom possibility.

The plant looks a little like lilly of the valley, both are rhizomous, I guess I'll find out how much it spreads each year.

I planted three from bare roots about five years ago. Two came up the first year, managing about two feet in hight, but no bloom. Only one came up the next year, and had about a half a dozen bottlebrush blooms by the third year.

This one stands as the big unit at the back of the garden. I seeded more from mail order stock the entire back section of the back yard two years ago, but no sign of them yet.

It seems to send up more stalks each year, and is nearing six feet high when drought is not an issue.