Today the sun is out and the snow has started to melt. Even though it's only January here in Missouri, I decided to take a walk around the garden and see if I could find any signs of spring. Maybe that's wishful thinking in January, but I do this every year. Give me a sunny winter day, a little melting snow and a patch of bare ground and I'm out there looking to see what's happening.
And sure enough, I found signs that the garden was beginning to wake up. That was all the encouragement I needed to keep walking and see what else I could find. Were the snowdrops coming up? What about the daffodils and tulips?
Spring certainly isn't here yet. This is Missouri, after all, and winter could have plenty more to say. But finding those first hints of another growing season is always exciting, so come take a walk around the garden with me and I'll show you what I found.
Crocus Are My First Sign of Spring
The first place I looked was in the front yard, where the melting snow had exposed a small patch of ground. That's where I found the first crocus shoots beginning to come up. My front yard is shaded by six 100-year-old trees, and even without their leaves, all those branches block quite a bit of the winter sun. Snow tends to hang around longer in some of those areas, so there wasn't much bare ground to search yet.
Crocus shoots appearing in a patch of exposed ground in my front garden.
The backyard is a different story. There are only two trees back there, so the garden gets much more sunlight, and that's where I found the real surprise. The crocus weren't just coming up, some were already blooming. It was interesting to see such a difference between the front and back gardens on the very same January day. Sometimes you don't have to go very far to see what a little more winter sun can do.
Crocus blooming in the sunnier backyard.
Then I Went Looking for the Snowdrops
After finding crocus blooming in the backyard, I started looking around to see what else might be awake. The snowdrops were blooming too. They're small and easy to overlook, especially this time of year, but those little white flowers really stand out when so much of the garden is still brown.
Snowdrops blooming in my January garden.
Snowdrops have always been one of those flowers I associate with the very beginning of the gardening season. They don't wait for the rest of the garden to wake up before making an appearance, which makes finding them in January even more enjoyable.
The Daffodils Aren't Far Behind
From there I checked another bed and found daffodils beginning to emerge. They're certainly not ready to bloom yet, but seeing those new shoots tells me there's more going on beneath the soil than you would ever guess by looking across the yard.
Tulips and daffodils beginning to emerge in my January garden.
This is about the time I have to remind myself that it's still January. A sunny afternoon and a few emerging bulbs can make a gardener start thinking about spring planting awfully quickly, but Missouri winter isn't finished just because my bulbs have decided to make an appearance.
Checking My Spring-Flowering Trees and Shrubs
After checking the bulbs, I started looking at the trees and shrubs that will eventually put on their own spring show. In my yard I have redbud, dogwood and crabapple trees, along with forsythia and old-fashioned lilacs. None of them is ready to flower on this January day, of course, but I still find myself checking the bare branches and buds whenever I'm outside looking for early signs of spring.
The redbuds and dogwoods are two trees I especially look forward to seeing each spring. My crabapple adds another beautiful round of flowers, and then there are the forsythia and those old-fashioned lilacs I wait for every year. Right now I'm not expecting flowers. I'm simply watching the buds and noticing any changes that tell me these plants are preparing for another season.
That's part of the fun of walking through the garden this early. You start out looking for a little crocus coming through a patch of bare ground, and before you know it you're examining the branches of the trees and shrubs and imagining what the yard will look like once spring really gets underway.
It's Still Too Early to Start Spring Cleanup
Finding all this activity certainly makes me want to start doing something. I can already see flower beds that need cleaning, mulch that has moved around and branches that winter has left behind. But if the ground is soggy from melting snow, I leave it alone.
I'm also careful around the areas where the bulbs are emerging. The last thing I want to do is get enthusiastic with a rake and damage the crocus, tulips or daffodils I was so excited to find.
For now, I'm making mental notes. I can see where water is collecting, where winter cleanup will eventually be needed and where plants are starting to emerge. There will be plenty of time for the real work once the ground and weather are ready for it.
And naturally the weeds seem perfectly comfortable with January. I can be wondering whether one of my favorite perennials survived the winter while a weed right beside it looks healthier than anything else in the bed.
The Garden Doesn't Wake Up All at Once
Today's walk is a good example of something I've noticed over years of gardening: even one yard doesn't experience spring all at once. My heavily shaded front garden still has snow and crocus just beginning to emerge, while the sunnier backyard already has crocus blooming.
The snowdrops are flowering, the tulips and daffodils are just beginning to show themselves, and the buds on my flowering trees and shrubs are something I'll be watching next. Everything is moving at its own pace, even though it's all growing in the same Missouri garden.
It makes me wonder how often we miss these little changes simply because we're waiting for the whole yard to look like spring.
A Little Bit of Spring in January
I went outside today because the sun was shining and the snow was beginning to melt, and I was curious to see what might be happening in the garden. I certainly wasn't expecting spring in January, but I found more than I expected: crocus beginning to emerge in the shaded front yard, crocus already blooming in the sunnier backyard, snowdrops in flower, tulips and daffodils coming up, and plenty of reasons to start watching my spring-flowering trees and shrubs.
Winter isn't finished here in Missouri, and I'm sure there are more cold days ahead. Still, finding all these little signs of life was a nice reminder that the garden is already thinking about the season to come. Sometimes all it takes is a sunny winter afternoon and a walk around the yard to remind us that spring really isn't that far away.
So if the sun is shining where you are today, put on your coat and take a little walk around your own garden. You might be surprised by what's already happening out there.
Happy early spring, everyone!
Susan