A curious mix of snow, sleet, and ice has again coated the garden, fortunately not to a depth so that it will melt quickly on the first afternoon that rises above freezing. A comparative heat wave is forecast for the coming week (temperatures in the fifties, Fahrenheit) so this precipitation will soon be forgotten. Instead, thoughts will turn to spring, though whining about this horrid ordeal will continue for weeks.

While hellebores and witch hazels have provided small relief from this prolonged chill, I expect long delayed swelling of flower buds of paperbushes (Edgeworthia chrysantha, below) to progress, with the overdue first glimpse of yellow perhaps a week away. Spidery blooms of ‘Arnold Promise’ and other late winter flowering witch hazels (Hamamelis x intermedia) should finally unfold from tightly wound buds to announce the imminent spring.

Today, I crunch through the icy garden, imaging again where this or that will be planted as soon as spring is verifiably in place. In fact, I’ve never waited so long. I will sneak a plant into the ground in a mild spell in January, but mostly will wait for the presumed start of spring, the first of March. If I plant next week, then temperatures drop far below freezing as inevitably they will at points through March, no harm will come.