thoughts on spring

Spring comes earlier for gardeners...
because they go out looking for it.

Yesterday I found Spring in the mud, where the snowdrops have started pushing up through...


...and in the full ivory Pieris buds dripping off their rosey stems.


I found it under crinkled leaves where new sprouts of Gentian pop out in pointy layers between the hollow sticks of last year's stems...

...but most vividly, I found it in the coppery curls that dress the bottom branches of the 'Jelena' witch hazel.

And so, happy spring. So what if it's not March 20th?