It is hard to image why I am looking for signs of spring already.

It’s January.

But it is also in the 50s and the snow is melting in the mountains and rushing down to the valley in flood-inducing volume.

Still some mornings the freezing fog lacquers every surface with a glassy lustre that is so lovely and surreal. There is no reason to propel oneself impatiently toward the coming season.

When I look at the weather map of the USA, I am personally proud of how delightfully timid the weather is here. As if my choice to live in the Pacific Northwest was not just luck, but actually a stroke of genius.

Well, if I’m such a genius what am I doing looking for signs of spring in January? Am I truly that impatient? I say not! I am not ready for the super-heated busy season ahead. I don’t like the rattling demands of a professional gardener’s spring. The speed at which I must move at that time of year precludes me from ever really enjoying the beauty.

            Maybe that is why I am looking for signs of spring now, when I have the time to enjoy them. Certainly one of the benefits of this mild maritime climate is that the seasons are blurred. What we call winter here is not the bald, frozen, lifeless winter I grew up in. It is spring as far as I’m concerned.

            Here is some of what I found, looking for signs of spring in January.

I expect hellebores this time of year. Truly winter flowers here in the Northwest.

I enjoys the strong fragrances of winter blooming shrubs like winter sweet, winter honeysuckle and sweet box, blooming while the fall fruits still cling to it.

But one does not expect forsythia. ‘Golden Tide’ has been a very early bloomer for me, and starts opening it’s first flowers in mid-January. It still signifies spring to me.

I was absolutely and delightfully shocked to see this rhododendron in full bloom when I was at the Elizabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden the other day. I may be January but it sure looked like spring.

Even a few hyacinths are poking out of the ground.Some plants can’t be tricked by these warm temperatures. We won’t see hyacinth flowers until real spring is here, come April.

Out at the farm, where it is much colder than in the Puget Sound Basin, the hellebores are still holding back. And the forsythia buds are barely swelling. But the rhubarb is up.

And the first little sniping of chives are available.

But I am happy enough for the winter wheat in the field across the road. Green can beat all the flowers in the world this time of year.