The start of the late winter flowering bulb season reminds me that this garden at the low point of neighboring hills is a few degrees colder than properties just up the slope.  Bright yellow daffodils against the gray skies are enjoyed in the neighborhood, while here there are fat buds but no flowers for another week, at least.

I have selected early flowering varieties of daffodils, snowdrops, and winter aconites so that I am not too anxious that others have blooms while mine are still to come, maybe next week. Snowdrops in the garden have been flowering since early February, but still, I look to add ones that flower even earlier.

While I battle battalions of squirrels digging any new planting of crocus, I am most disappointed to see their cheery blooms up the street while mine are barely showing through the deep clutter of fallen leaves. Certainly, these would flower earlier if not insulated by the leaf cover, but the reward for not removing the leaves is fewer weeds and richer soil.

One thing or another flowers in this garden through every winter day, but I ask for more. If there are witch hazels, mahonias, and a few scattered hellebores flowering in mid-January, I would also like colonies of snowdrops, but of course, I must carefully select ones, then account for flowering ten days later due to the chilly and shaded setting.