May blooms, buds, berries and birds...

Last May this Paeonia 'Smith Opus' (Misaka) has lush open blooms. Not this year. It's been too cold.Back in March I dug up a patch of Saxifraga urbium 'Aureopunctata' and planted them in temporary containers while I reworked an area of the garden. It's been so wet, that I haven't gotten it all replanted yet and they're blooming in one of those containers.
I don't appreciate those little flowers until I look close.
Moving on to another patch of the same saxifraga, here the dark astelia foliage helps bring out the spots on the petals.
I took this photo to show what a froth the flowers on a patch of saxifraga can create, this group on Saxifraga ‘Primuloides’.
Disporum cantonese ‘Night Heron’
Disporum cantonese ‘Green Giant’
Solomon's seal (Polygonatum). This is one of the very first plants I added to the garden when we moved here in 2005. 
Back then there was a nursery that sold plants that had been donated by people digging up things they didn't want any longer. Or instances of when a garden was going to be plowed under for development, that kind of thing. Plants were cheap and I didn't have a lot to spend, it was a perfect match!

Magnolia laevifolia, these blooms have stuck around a lot longer than normal, thanks to the fact it's been so damn cold.

I missed many of the blooms on my Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet' last year because the aphids were so nasty I cut everything back hard. I've been out there paying attention; washing and pinching off aphid-covered foliage so hopefully I'll get to see flowers soon.
It's always fun to spot the little green flowers on Tillandsia usneoides.
One of my Schlumbergera truncata has managed to throw out a few May blooms, I pinched this one to take inside but then laid it down here while I pulled a few weeds—none of the plants in the picture actually produced the flower!
Palm's a blooming! Trachycarpus fortunei
Embothrium coccineum
Lupinus rivularis, peeking up through the foliage of Rhododendron williamsianum.
Paris quadrifolia
Podophyllum peltatum
Here's what the Podophyllum peltatum foliage looks like, the flower is lurking below.

Podophyllum 'Red Panda'
Podophyllum pleianthum
Darlingtonia californica

Another carnivorous plant bloom in the works, these buds belong to a sarracenia.
Maytenus boaria 'Green Showers'
Akebia longeracemosa 'Victor's Secret'—usually in bloom by now, but not this year.
Sophora prostrata 'Little Baby'
I had just one Echium wildpretii live thru last winter to bloom this spring. Truth be told, it's the only one I bothered to protect. At least my efforts paid off.
Such a fabulous plant.
Loropetalum chinense 'Sizzling Pink', in the back garden.
Loropetalum  chinense var. rubrum 'Hindwarf', in the front garden.
Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop', I should have taken a pulled back shot as there are at least a dozen (if not more) of these in bloom. A plant I never would have purchased but Alison (I miss you Alison, but wish your email would stop spamming me) shared with me. I love it.
Scadoxus puniceus, fat buds, but not yet blooming. Again, because of the cold temps.
Variegated lily of the valley, Convallaria majalis 'Aureovariegata'.
Thalictrum ichangense 'Evening Star'
Epimedium 'Amber Queen' 
Aporophyllum 'Shirley' (orchid cactus)—this is the third bloom of the year, with at least three more on the way!
This is an odd shot that I just had to share. Rhododendron laramie, after the petals have fallen.
Pacific Coast Hybrid Iris ‘Wildberry Shortcake'
Pulsatilla vulgaris 'I wish I could remember'
Leucothoe fontanesiana 'Rainbow', which is producing beautiful blooms in numbers that are off the charts this year!
NOID lewisia A
NOID lewisia B (which tries to break my camera every year, it's so bright!)
The last of the Poncirus trifoliata blooms.
Erica arborea var. alpina
Corokia cotoneaster is a cloud of yellow stars...
So many flowers!
The berries and the birds are all gone now, but a fine mess remains. I'll spare you those images. It was fun watching them though, the party took place right in front of my kitchen table window, which is how I got these photos.