At the start of the new year, the countdown begins. Every day, on every stroll through the garden, I must look for signs of spring. Flowers help to ease the too long wait.

The first spidery flowers of the vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, above) opened the last week of December, though it will be a few weeks before its peak. On rare occasions, my generally oblivious nose recognizes the scent of various witch hazels wafting through the rear garden on mild winter afternoons. More often, I enjoy the progression of blooms from the muted yellow of the vernal witch hazel through brighter colored Asian hybrids that flower into March.

As the early flowering Christmas rose hellebores (Helleborus niger, above) fade by late January, the parade of blooms progresses to a peak in February. Surprisingly, a second double flowered hellebore is blooming (below) after another flowered earlier in December. Confused flowering spurred by less than obvious weather sequences is not unusual, but I have not seen this on hellebores in the past.

The most obvious flowers in January are the bright yellows of mahonias (Mahonia x media ‘Winter Sun’, below) scattered through the rear garden. Occasionally, the blooms fade before the new year, but today, I suspect flowers will persist several weeks longer. Rarely, the late winter flowers of leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei) intersect late in January, but typically, there is a several week gap.

Pink camellia flowers (below) seem more numerous than usual for the new year, with buds of white flowers on the way if more extreme cold holds off. Flowers are injured with temperatures in the low twenties (Fahrenheit), but flower buds are not.

As always, two shaded camellias along the driveway delay flowering until January. Today, buds are swelling, but flowering in midwinter is typically short as nighttime temperatures ruin blooms shortly after buds open.