Some of the blue- or purple-flowered bulbs Gastil lists can't be grown here in northwestern Oregon, or flower a bit later, but we may succeed with some that don't do as well in her coastal southern California location. Those showing blue color here today (two days after the temperature finally rose above freezing for the first time in a week): Crocus baytopiorum, the truest blue in that genus Hyacinthella atchleyi and a couple of other Hyacinthella species Puschkinia libanotica, in the open garden under a bare tree, among Cyclamen coum Scilla sibirica subsp. taurica, a very strong blue Iris histrio from a wild seed collection Iris 'Halkis', a reticulata; not sure if it is a hybrid or a pure species selection In the purple range it is mostly irises, such as Iris stenophylla (both subspecies now open) and many of the Reticulata section, and of course Crocus species. Gastil also mentioned Dichelostemma capitatum, a western American native that I wish were better known; it has umbels of light purple flowers with a strong purple base on dark stems, making a group of plants in flower (they are the earliest of the Themidaceae) a striking garden accent, and it's pretty cold-hardy. I don't have a Pantone book but it is a good idea if you have access to one, to compare flower colors with it. There is also an older set of standard color names (not numbers) used by the Dutch bulb industry in particular; you may see them in descriptions of flowers in European and British publications. What one includes as "blue" is rather subjective. I don't like using it where "purple" or "violet" or their many quasi-synonyms seem better. Catalog writers, however, will call almost anything "blue," and Photoshop the illustration to support their falsehood. The snowdrops have raised their heads again now that the snow has melted, as have the early Narcissus, but a few plants that suffered in our December deep freeze have given up in the face of the February iteration. Some of the latter, however, may return next year if their bulbs (tubers, corms) are deep enough. The seedlings, including almost 30 Tulipa species, show little damage despite my eventually inadequate attempts at keeping them from freezing; even some Fritillaria species that were just germinating appear all right. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA At 06:49 PM 2/11/2014, you wrote: >Here are some blue and purple flowering bulbs now open in my garden. >Several of these were planted a couple months later than normal and >all were delayed in receiving their first fall watering. > >Romulea linarsii - just opened the first sunny day in awhile >Crocus minimus - one last bloom just finishing >Scilla peruviana - just a few early ones starting to open >Ixia rapunculoides - peak bloom in the plunge bed but still in bud >in an adjacent raised bed >Gladiolus caeruleus - past peak bloom, with one stalk still blooming >in the sand plunge >Tristagma uniflorum (syn. Ipheion uniflorum) - just beginning, >started opening a couple weeks ago >Iris reticulata - only one of the five varieties is open >Freesia laxa - at peak bloom now, with the first early flowers >already forming seed pods > >Two non-geophyte annuals in this set of photos I use as reference >blue colors: Baby blue eyes and Cornflower. >The color chart included in each photo is a way of precisely >comparing blue hues. > >http://flickr.com/photos/gastils_garden/… > >There are also just a few Muscari which opened after the day I took >those photos. >The Dichelostemma capitatum are in bud. >And a Moraea polystachya bud was tight this morning but I expect >tomorrow it will open. > >- Gastil >Santa Barbara, California