So far this spring I've been unable to actually get out into the garden due to limitations relating breaking my left leg in November :-( I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to work ourside for a bit by this weekend. DH has been doing a good job of basic clean-up and pruning (under my cranky supervision!) but that's a poor substitute for being out there yourself :-) I took these pictures with the aid of the zoom on the camera this morning from indoors or out on the front or back porches:

Since there's been a thread on polygonatum, I looked to see what some of mine is doing. The ones by the air conditioner screen in the north alley are starting to bloom. The white corydalis with it blooms very early and continues into fall.
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The astilboides is off to a good start - it will get much, much bigger soon. It likes lots of water so is no doubt happy with all the rain we had in April - you can see the black pipe that carrys water to it from a nearby downspout across the path. The neighbour across the fence also directs water towards it from a downspout. There is a rodgersia to the right of the pipe - in my experience rodgersia does much better in drier conditions even though they're reputed to like moisture.
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The polygonatum under the oak are not as far along as the ones in the north alley. They used to nicely hang over the log edging of the lawn; we moved the log edge forward a few years ago to widen the bed but didn't move the Solomon's Seal forward too - so it looks a bit odd that it all lines up back from the edge! I keep meaning to divide it up and move it around but somehow it never gets done....! The white trilliums are looking good at the moment; I can't see how the red ones by the shed are doing - I need to get outside to see those ones. I also need to be down there to see if any of the seedlings are blooming this year.
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You can't really tell from this picture taken from the front porch but the Chinese wisteria 'tree' is loaded with flowerbuds this year so we're looking forward to a good show in a couple of weeks. The Japanese wisteria 'tree' , which flowered for the first time last spring, also has lots of buds (oddly the majoritiy are on the north side....) so it looks like May will go out with a fine show of wisteria - we hope!
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The driveway is the only sunny spot for growing vegetables, so we grow most of them in pots. We love peas, so there are 7 pots of peas with various days-to-maturity on the driveway, along with a pot of garlic and some pots that will be planted with pole beans when the temperatures warm up.
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The herb bed behind the pea pots has over the past few years become more of a flower bed for warmer colors. To start off the season early, last fall I planted Orange Emperor tuliips which I thought would go nicely with the dark foliage of the ninebark and the bronzy emerging leaves of the Paprika rose. That seems to have worked quite well.
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I'm really, really antsy to get out there for a closer look at what's growing on....!