I must be losing my mind when I’m encouraged to stroll the garden at seventeen degrees (Fahrenheit) on a sunny afternoon. And, every afternoon I’m doing the same thing, slipping on the Yaktrax to tour the frozen tundra that looks nearly identical to the day before.

The garden is snow covered with an icy crust, and with cold forecast for the weeks ahead, spring seems far off. I am hopeful that the second half of February shows a steady progression to spring, but it can be frustratingly slow in advancing the seasonal change.

With only a few days forecast to rise slightly above freezing, I expect that snow will be slow to melt. This will delay snowdrops that were making their first show. Many hellebores displayed swelling buds before being covered by snow, and several were flowering. With this insulation, buds could continue to enlarge, with the hope that hellebores, snowdrops, and winter aconites (Eranthis) make a grand show soon after the snow departs.

After nighttime temperatures above and just below zero (Fahrenheit), the contrast between the lower rear and shaded side gardens is evident. I am rarely able to discern warmer microclimates, but today flower buds of paperbushes (Edgeworthia chrysantha) down the slope in the rear garden are clearly damaged while no damage is apparent upslope in the side garden. I hope that some buds survive to flower late in February.

The garden can seem hopelessly bare through the winter months. I know, I’m envisioning the lushness of May by comparison, but I’m seeing blank spaces that I’m anxious to fill. Certainly, I’ve over ordered again for early spring deliveries with plans to purchase several more substantial evergreens when the weather is milder.

I have no doubt that plant orders made in the reality of the garden’s May peak instead of the bleakness of midwinter would be significantly fewer, but that’s the gardener’s dilemma. Each three inch pot ordered brilliantly fills an imagined space.