Looking Hard for Signs of Spring

My sister sent dog pictures from North Carolina today. My eye immediately flew to the background where I could see forsythia and daffodils in bloom.

We have no color yet in Michigan except for the red of the cardinals and now the blue of the occasional Eastern bluebird.

Each time we go for a walk in the back field I look for the flash of blue as the bluebirds hang out near the nest box they've claimed.

I took this picture mainly to show the lack of color in the landscape. If you look closely, you can see a speck of blue in the tree. I circled it to help you out. A person needs all the help they can get to locate color in mid-March Michigan.

These short green shoots are February Gold daffodils, the earliest blooming daffodils we have. Usually they shoot up during each of the major pre-spring thaws and are in full bloom by the end of March.

We haven't had major pre-spring thaws this year.

If the temperatures will stay above freezing for the rest of the month, the daffodils might make March bloom. They're going to need to do some serious growing in the next thirteen days.

This is the only plant in bloom on our five acres. Those two pink colored spots at the base of the stem are the flowers.

This Hellebore is an amazing little plant that starts blooming even before the first major thaw and continues blooming on through the spring, long after it's overshadowed by the more showy flowers.

Actually, almost every other flower is more showy - but none are more indestructible.

This little guy lives in the deep dry shade of a large oak tree in our front yard where hardly anything else will grow. My garden is full of plants that don't need coddling, and this is one of the toughest.

So we patiently wait for the snow to finish melting and hope we don't get any more.

Another month and everything will be green and this field will be hopping with baby rabbits.

Glory is rested and ready for the chase.