Discovery of the little bulbs that will grow for you is rather personal business but highly rewarding.
As to the hardiness of certain kinds, much depends on your location. The kinds listed here are quite cold and hardy practically everywhere in this country.
Anemone
The Grecian windflowers, A. blanda, tough but winsome daisy-like flowers four inches high, open with early crocus and remain for nearly six weeks. Named varieties are available in blue, white, pink, and rose. Mixtures are pretty.
Chionodoxa
The glory of the Snow, a tiny bulb treasure, gives very early blue flowers which, unlike the squills, face upward.
The largest of the tribe is C. gigantea, which also comes in white. The common kind is dainty C. luciliae, blue with a white center, also in pink (‘Pink Giant’) and rose (resat).
Galanthus
Snowdrops are among the earliest white flowers. G. nivalis is the common one, single, fine for naturalizing. G. nivalis flore-plena is a double variety of it.
Leucojum
Summer Snowflake, L. aestivum, on strong plants, grows over 12 inches high, and in April-May produces drooping white and green twin bell flowers that resemble magnified blooms of Galanthus. L. vernum blooms much earlier, similar, but on five-inch sterns.
Scilla
The common early blue squill is S. siberica. It comes in a white form (S. siberica alba), and in a superb large flowered kind, ‘Spring Beauty? Another early squill is S. tubergeniana, larger, with soft blue and white flowers.
Puschkinia
Lebanon squill is a dainty, interesting blue and white flower of early spring. Only one species is commonly available, P. libanotica, but this does also come in a pure white form.
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