Looking at last year's pictures, I've been thinking that the backyard could use a super-early-season colour boost. The primroses and bloodroot don't do much in isolation: what I need are Drifts of Colour.

If I'm successful starting some primulas from seed, that will be an excellent start, since I will then have a pile of them to scatter around. I doubt they'd do very well in the sun bed, though - crocuses might be a better solution there. And/or squills, maybe. Will have to keep an eye on the ones in the front yard and see when they bloom. Hellebores would be a good pick for the shadier parts of the backyard, too. Although they're pretty pricy to plant in numbers.

Figures that this occurs to me NOW instead of three months ago, when I could still have been planting spring bulbs.