In Winter and early Spring, the twigs of my espaliered 'Winter Orange' lindens are orange, and the leaf buds are coral pink. They demanded underplantings that would provide colorful commentary. 'Zwanenburg' crocuses are reportedly the orangest of the orange. Orange enough? 

The growth of plants that form colonies, not individual clumps, originates from a number of different points underground. What's above ground—the emerging shoots—looks misleadingly orderly: New stems, all about the same height, lengthening upward together.

Below ground, the energy is wilder and rougher.

Only when I repotted this relative of African violet, short-flowered sinningia, was its free-for-all of sprouts and tuberous roots exposed.

Spring isn't just about new leaves and colorful flowers, swell as they are. It can be even more exciting to figure out that one of your more unusual plants has merely survived Winter. Compared to that pleasant shock, flowers and foliage are a bit obvious.

Case in point, rough-leaved hydrangea, which had been thought not hardy colder than Zone 7. Let's see.