In this December that has been quite chilly until the past week, no snowdrops have yet to  poke above ground. A year ago, several flowered in December. Not this year.

Recent temperatures in the mid-teens (Fahrenheit) ended the extended period of camellias flowering that began early in October. With milder temperatures this week there’s a possibility that swelling buds could become flowers, but any are unlikely to last long until they’re browned in the next cold spell.

The early flowering hellebores are late, though I expect the white flowers of Christmas roses (Helleborus niger, below) to open in the next few days. In recent years they began flowering by mid-December with several hybrids following within a few weeks. I expect these will hold until January and perhaps the blooms will overlap with the late winter flowering varieties.

The Vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, below) looks to be on its typical schedule to flower the second week of January. There is a tiny glimpse of color from a few buds of the large shrub. Buds of the Asian hybrids are swelling noticeably but flowers are not expected until late January or into early February.

Thankfully, the various mahonias remain at their peak (Berberis x hortensis ‘Winter Sun’ and ‘Marvel’, below) with no evidence of injury from the cold. In an extraordinarily mild December the flowers might fade by early January, but I suspect that with this winter’s chill the blooms will persist to flower alongside the Vernal witch hazels and possibly ‘Arnold Promise’ though that is a bit of a stretch.