We're simply starved for life and color by this time of year, so we treasure the earliest spring flowers. Their arrival is an eagerly anticipated harbinger of warmer days and drier weather. It is possible to nudge the gardening season forward a bit with hepaticas and primroses, just as we extend it in autumn with asters and chrysanthemum.

Many Northwest gardens are blessed with overstory trees and varying degrees of shady dampness. This shelter and shade produces the earliest and loveliest of flowers, which carpet the woodland floor with color weeks before the trees get their leaves and the daffodils burst open.

Although you can plant pots of bulbs in sunny spots to create a blast of springtime color, the woodland garden is the natural place to look for the first signs of spring. The oldest part of the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Shoreline is just such a place — a one-acre woodland garden of lofty firs and cedars underplanted with Japanese maples, styrax and species rhododendrons. The former residence of noted horticulturist Betty Miller, the garden is known for its collections of species rhododendrons, rare perennials and woodland plants. These woodland bloomers, coaxed and protected by a February layer of mulch, come alive in early spring. Primroses, anemones, trillium and hepatica begin to flower as the hellebores fade.

"The hardest thing about a woodland garden is managing the canopy," says director/curator Richard Hartlage. Trees and large shrubs need to be pruned sufficiently up and open for light to reach the forest floor. While most of these early-blooming perennials tolerate shade, they won't thrive under the dark cloak of an unpruned evergreen woodland. Not only does pruning encourage the understory to bloom, but the rhythm of the revealed trunks in their various shapes and textures effectively punctuates the mounded forms of the low plants growing beneath. Paths wind through the low mats of flowers, and while the feel is naturalistic, it is clear that plants are carefully sited to make the most of dappled sunlight and the trees' protection.

These flowering perennials may appear fragile, but they stand up to the worst of springtime's cool, blustery weather. And, they offer just the life and color we've been craving.

Hepatica nobilis. Hepaticas are the new darling of the horticultural set, and many are surprisingly easy to grow. While still expensive (for a 4-inch pot, $8 to $12 and up — way, way up), these little perennials should be available this spring at better nurseries and by mail order. The buds begin to show color as early as January, with star-like little flowers opening in late February and March on six-inch plants with semi-evergreen leaves. Hepaticas come in various forms and colors, are drought-tolerant and long-lived. While they enjoy the same shady and moist conditions as primroses, they're far more slug-resistant.

Omphalodes cappadocica. The intense blue of these forget-me-not-like flowers shimmers in the thin spring sunshine. A clumping perennial, this species is the best for our climate: easy to control, creating tidy mounds of bright color in moist, humus-rich soil and partial shade. The azure blue of the plentiful flowers contrasts beautifully with all the pale greens of spring, as well as the pinks and whites of anemones and trillium.

Primula 'Gold Laced.' One of the Polyanthus primroses, 'Gold Laced' has golden-eyed, mahogany-red flowers held in whorled clusters above the foliage. Its dainty beauty and surprisingly dark color betray its Victorian heritage, and show up strikingly among the simpler springtime pastels.

Primula 'Garryarde Guinevere.' This pale pink, yellow-centered primrose is the quintessential spring bloomer with its cheerful look and dependable ways. Vigorous and evergreen, with handsome crinkled, bronze-toned leaves, it forms large clumps that flower throughout the springtime.

Primula auricula. The aristocracy of the primrose clan, these evergreens have pale foliage showing off darkly dramatic flowers centered in wide circles of glowing white. Each flower appears to be hand-painted in its perfection. These little beauties need more sun than other primroses and do best in moist, rich soil.

Anemone nemorosa. These lusty perennials are the dependable carpeters of woodland glens, spreading into wide, low mats of bloom. Their dissected foliage is nearly as charming as their tissue-paper-thin blossoms with fluffy yellow anthers. Colors range from white to flushed-with-pink; they stay below a foot tall and naturalize gracefully. They are ideal companions for ferns and hosta since they disappear as later plants begin to open their foliage.

Trillium luteum. Shy trillium have long been a prize of the woodland garden, requiring just the right conditions of moist, well-drained soil and shady overstory. Most North American trillium have larger, showier flowers than Asian species. The flowers are fragrant, with narrow petals in shades ranging from green to golden yellow. The flower is shown off by the mottled patterning on the broad, distinctive leaves.

Help on hepaticas

Learn all about hepaticas, and see many of the rarer ones, Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 N.E. 41st St., Seattle. Dan Hinkley of Heronswood Nursery will give a lecture on "The Genus Hepatica: A Star is Born," at the center. Cost is $12; you can pay at the door or call 206-685-8033 to register. The Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden's collection of Japanese hepaticas will be on display at the lecture.

Garden tours

To schedule a tour of the Miller Garden, call 206-362-8612. The garden is open by appointment on Wednesdays and Thursdays from March 1 through Nov. 15.

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian. Her new book, "Plant Life: Growing a Garden in the Pacific Northwest" (Sasquatch Books, 2002) is an updated selection of her magazine columns. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com