I had an interesting realization while I was looking though last years photos of my garden. First I realized that I did not take very many. Second I realized that the images, with their date tags, were a really good way to keep track of what the plants were doing at different times of the year. For example, I can see that snowdrops (a non-native that was present when we moved in) were blooming at the end of March last year. Other plants, Bloodroot, May Apple, etc were starting to come up by early April. I have photos from the second half of April showing Trout Lilies in bloom (unfortunately not ones in our yard). By early May, trilliums and false solomon seals were blooming, late May I can see Wild Geranium, Columbine, and Canada Anenome in bloom.
This is a really useful (and easy) way to keep track of what different plants were doing when, so I am going to try and take more pictures of the garden this year. I am going to try to take a complete set of garden photos each week, from when the first plant peeks its head up (potentially soon!) till winter rolls in.
First to appear will probably be the snow drops, however we also have a Spicebush which is a native bush. Spicebushes are also early bloomers. As this is the first year that we've had the Spicebush (it was planted last spring, post-bloom) I am really interested to see what I does.