After two weeks of snow cover, I am increasingly anxious for spring. Undoubtedly, below this hard crusted snow are also-anxious hellebores, crocuses, winter aconites, and snowdrops, ready to flower once exposed again to the late winter sun.

With a prolonged spell of cold, this snow has been slow to melt, and this low lying and forest shaded garden is slower to thaw than neighboring properties. A mild, rainy day is best to quickly melt snow and ice, and this would also hasten thawing of soil that was frozen brick-hard for days before the snowfall. I don’t see this possibility in the near forecast, though warmer temperatures have arrived.

I suppose that milder temperatures will also encourage immediate flowering of Asian witch hazels and hybrids with buds that have remained at the just-before-flowering stage (above) through the cold of recent weeks. I expect to see flowers in the next few days.

With my snowbound lack of activity, too many hours have been spent flopped on the couch, today rereading of Dan Hinckley’s global shrub and vine explorations. Of course, this has spurred online purchases of a few witch hazel relatives, Sycopsis sinensis and a variegated Disanthus cercidifolius (with a note to add these to an earlier order). I expect both will find their home in the partially shaded border of the side garden, with at least one requiring the removal of a beautyberry (Callicarpa) that underperforms in increasing shade.

As I slide through the frozen garden I note the first signs of deer browsing since spraying the repellent in late November. Another application on a warmer day should carry through until the monthly routine begins in spring.

A year ago, I neglected this follow up. A few aucubas and the columnar euonymus were stripped of leaves. While I sympathize with deer for the lack of food in this snow covered world, I’ll encourage them to browse elsewhere.