spring???

...no, not quite yet. But I am starting to feel hopeful. Due to seeing some of the dozens of hyacinths planted out in the yard beginning to show color. I was digging a little hole in that expanding flower bed across the front of the house yesterday to plant several narcissus/paper-white bulbs. The ones that came (overpriced) from the Ace Hardware store in Decatur, given to me to 'force' in the dark, cold months when we can't even begin to hope for longer daylight hours, the promise of new life. I'd put a couple in a narrow vase, near a window to try to encourage - they did bloom. But the others were in the bottom of the 'fridge, with 'not onions' written all over the paper bag, and just never had a chance to put on growth and make fragrant flowers.

So I took them out yesterday, dug a little hole near the fence, and put them in the ground. They were already trying to grow - some wee little sprouts of green peeking out of the tops of the bulbs. And when I was out there, I saw several hyacinths, not even three inches tall. But wanting to bloom so desperately, all those little flower buds along the stems trying to come up out of the dark were opening: white, lavender, pink. Determined to do what their DNA was programmed for: be one of the earliest signs of spring.

So I thought: hmmm, I believe I should go inspect the forsythia plants, as they are one of the things you notice when everything else is bare, drab, colorless. But no blooms yet. Those are the ones that grow into huge bushes, completely barren of leaves in the winter, then suddenly you see this huge clump of brilliant yellow blooms. Tiny, smaller than your thumbnail, but hundreds of wee little bright blossoms, looking like a swarm of butterflies.

"Impossible", you say, "here in these cold days of winter?"  But eye-catching and startling in their brilliant 'school bus' shade of yellow. Sorry - not yet, but if it continues to be warm and sunny for the near future, I expect to start seeing forsythia putting on a show in the next week or two. If you might want to start some in your yard, let me know? I have lots and lots, and would love to share. It could become a mission: spread forsythia cheer over all the planet to have everyone smiling when they catch a glimpse of the unexpected brightly blooming shrub, turning SAD dull dispositions into smiles.