There Are Things Coming Out of the Ground!

Two days ago it snowed about four inches at my house. Yesterday was 44 degrees and most of the snow melted away.
Last night Hubby mentioned that he has seen crocuses peeking out by his office. The conversation went something like this:
Me: "Did you see that?" Gesturing to a flowerbed passing by on the TV screen during CSI:NY. "Flowers! Do they already have flowers in New York?"
Hubby: "Probably. I saw some crocuses coming up already."
Me: "Where?"
Hubby: "By my office."
Me: "Why? That's north of us! Why would THEY have crocuses already?!"
Hubby: "We probably do too. Have you looked?"
Me: "No..."
So on the way out with the dog last night I grabbed a flashlight and looked. And lo and behold- we do have sprouts!
In between the rain showers today I (intrepidly) ventured out to do a little exploring and documentation. Despite the piles of remaining snow and the gravel and road salt that had been piled on top of the garden we planted around the mailbox last fall:

we actually had a few different kinds of plants coming up. I broke out the little shrub rake to clear the area out a little and found these:

As well as these:
Neither of which I can remember the name of. I mean, I know they are either crocus, or hyacinth, or tulip, or daffodil, or freesia...I just don't quite recall which we actually planted. It was 5 months ago!

Anyway, I got so excited about those that I decided to go around and clean up the rest of the garden too. I realize it's still a little too early to clear out the leafy cover, but I went around and trimmed back all the dead stalks. And while I was at it I thought that if there are things growing already, the mint MUST be coming up, too.

And it was!
Then I noticed a plant right under the dogwood tree had some green coming up.

Mums!
Wait, mums are perennial? I had no idea! I thought they were a two-month wonder, so I hadn't even tried to keep that one alive!
And then I realized that the peonies ought to be coming out about the same time as the others, and I couldn't help peeking. I mean, it's not like opening the oven, right? As long as I cover them back up before it freezes again they'll be fine... right?

I transplanted two sets of peonies last fall, and I had no idea if they would survive or not (despite VERY carefully following the advice of my horticulturally proven aunt, I might still have messed up!)
First, the potted ones I'd been carting from apartment to apartment for about three years. They'd never bloomed in the pot, and they usually didn't make an appearance until much later in the year. But they must like the soil here!

The other transplant was an ENORMOUS mature plant that had irrationally been planted between two huge cypress trees and behind a giant phlox, which made the plant impossible to see. So I dug it up (my aunt said that fall was the time to move peonies) and moved it forward a few feet so that in the spring I can move the giant phlox back to where the peonies were, thereby allowing ALL the plants to be seen! The bed they were in was still a little frozen so I had to look a little harder, but my effort was rewarded!

And there was one more thing I found in the garden that I had forgotten would be there:

Skittles! He loves gardening, but he's a little camera shy!

It may be another month or more before I can start digging beds and putting in new plants, but what a tonic this preview turned out to be!