Today there seems a need for a dose of optimism. One snow after the other has left a deep snowy blanket covering the garden, and spring seems so far away. In fact, the gardener’s spring is less than three weeks ahead. Gardener’s spring, of course, refers not to the seasons as determined by the path of the planet around the sun, but to the time when plant growth begins, roughly the beginning of March in northern Virginia.

The prospect of helleborus and witch hazel in bloom in a few short weeks hardly seems possible with so many feet of snow drifting in the howling wind, but the snow will melt and spring will arrive sooner than we expect.