Conifers with seasonal color changes, the most pronounced in what I have is

platycladus orientalis 'morgan' - Search Images (bing.com)

I consider spring to start on 12th night! I get rid of the Christmas stuff and immediately bring in the first forced hyacinths. That way I try to skip the post Christmas psychological gloom. Outdoors there are green shoots, the first snowdrops will be visible and the first crocuses are not far behind. Spring is a long, cool season here. It's still going on and will continue almost until June.

0h, for a long cool spring! We've been having temps around 80. It's simply awful.

The appearance of blooming Snowdrops, Witch hazel and Crocuses signal that spring is approaching for me. The red maples start to bloom. Day lengthening, warmer sun also give me hope. But spring is long and gradual here in Virginia, with many warm days and cold setbacks. We’re usually out of the woods when the azaleas start to bloom and I’ve mowed my lawn at least three times!

We many times go from winter directly to summer here.

But it's once the frost goes out of the ground; things begin to grow.

1.25" of rain yesterday and the little peeps from the red charm look like this almost overnight:

When the light shift starts sticking. Usually mid to late Feb. Twilight stretches. The loss on both ends of day shifts to gains over a couple weeks. It's the first herald for me, and it's usually before anything green really starts. Stuff starts waking up after the light shift starts sticking. Another one is the swans. When they are padding their nesting site in the island in the pond, and then their disappearance to sit the nest.. spring is on. And then the verdant haze starts forming on everything :) The hellebore has fat seed pods forming up.

Daffodils, dandelions, spring peepers, onion grass and tiny miniature grape hyacinths.

When I replace the snowblower with the lawn mower near the front of my garage.

tj

tj's got it

Thanks for the reminder tj. I just ran my snow blower around to the back storage shed. ;-)

The sound of lawn mowers firing up on weekend mornings! And the cherry trees in bloom. It's been spring here for a good month.

I don't think anyone here has a snow blower. 😁

Daffodils,dandelions, clovers then cherry blossoms

It has been Spring here for over a month now, signs are Tulip Magnolias, Japanese maples leafing out, Photinia pushing new growth.

P.S. We have snow blowers here, none needed this past year.

Besides Dirca, the only flowering woody plants are Leonard Messell Magnolia and Forsythia. Spring is short and volatile around here. The spring peepers will go back to their frozen state this weekend.

Haven’t any of you with snowblowers ever changed out too early from blower to mower? A few years back we had almost nine inches of snow in early May. Yeah, that caught me off guard.

This week I planted a variegated Japanes Red Pine, which was the first of the season. Where would I be without spring?

I know spring is coming when I see the Maple trees in bloom. When everything else is still in the throws of winter, it is good to see the flowers on the maple tree.

When I see twice as many Grackles as there were during the winter. ;-)

Near mid 20's this weekend but that should be the end of it.

Red maples are flowering and the Red Charms have been remarkably frost tolerant.

Spring peepers and a sore back!

Probably should add one of my maples here from last week. One morning early as my tree has started flushing out, the sun had nailed it like a spot light...

Ahhh the sights of spring!

Many of the plants & animals already mentioned would be included in my list of spring harbingers. Spring definitely arrived early this year, the witch-hazel was in full bloom and the chorus frogs were singing almost 2 months ago. Grackles and redwings started arriving about the same time. Egrets have returned to the lakes and ponds. I noticed the "trill" of toads just the other day (before the current cold front moved in). Trilliums in the backyard are in full bloom at the moment (4/20/24). The new growth on my Homestead buckeye also tells me spring is here.

Wait, trilliums in the back yard? Dave, you’re killing me. Is this part of the garden or a natural area? My spouse and I tried Trullium and it was an utter failure. I’ve resigned myself to enjoying them in a public area a few miles north, which is a moist woods. Beautiful!

Here’s my $10 Magnolia ’Leonard Messell’. The flowers on this Magnolia are amazingly frost resistant. We’ve had back to back freezes, and they hang right in there. In the world of Magnolias, mine is nothing to crow about, but after our winters, it’s enough.

It's somehow too early and already late to start seeds.

Maybe I shouldn't show my pot of trilliums :-) They have a long back story but this particular clump (part of the original plant I acquired going on 20 years ago) has not been in the ground for 5 years.

If I wasn't already convinced it's spring, the pollen this last week has been incredible!! Everything has a thick dusting of gold powder, you see clouds of it lifting when the wind blows and I have been sneezing my head off!! I don't remember it being this bad before.

I see GG is swinging the 'Zone Envy' club again. lol j/k ;-)

One indication of spring here is when the frost is out, and I can take the sunshades off the Hemlocks and Hicksii. (I'll take the wire off too). 4-21-24:

Robins are often the harbingers of spring where I live, but it seems like I always see red-tailed hawks return before I see robins.

On May 10 - 20 is a Tulip Festival in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. Admission to the more than 300,000 tulips in bloom is free.

The festival started with the Dutch sending tulips right after WW2 in gratitude for the role of Canada in the liberation of their country. Also, a Dutch princess was born in Ottawa during WW2, the only royalty ever born in Canada. The Dutch still send tulips :-)

Well, still haven’t swapped out my snowblower, but my blooming serviceberry is a good sign.

tj

Eyes up - Blackthorn and almond blossom.

Eyes down - violets

Eyes closed - lilacs

Nose closed - to prevent sneezing

When I see Harbinger of Spring peeking up through a carpet of leaves I know spring has arrived. Erigenia bulbosa

Sam, that’s beautiful!

I spent the day in the Pisgah National Forest of western North Carolina and found these beauties. The first is trillium, and I think the second might be an orchid, but that’s a guess. In any case, they were shouting spring to me!

My trillium demand equal time. I'll wager I'm the only one who grew these FROM SEED!. That's right, 7 years waiting for the first bloom. Deer cannot resist them so these are fenced.

sam_md, you're a patient man, very nice!

maackia, Any idea which trillium species that is? Looks close to "sweet white trillium" (Trillium simile) in which case it is an uncommon species with a narrow native range. Nice find. I believe your 2nd photo is Galearis spectabilis, Showy Orchid.

One of my favorite spring ephemerals is Red Trillium

Trillium grandiflorum (White Trillium) from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trillium_grandiflorum

Interesting factoids:

The White Trillium is the official floral emblem of Ontario Canada where I am :-)

If trilliums are available deer will seek these plants, with a preference for Trillium grandiflorum to the exclusion of others. In the course of normal browsing, deer consume larger individuals, leaving shorter ones behind. This information can be used to assess deer density and its effect on understory growth in general.

The latter factoid is from the Wikipedia article which has lots and lots of very interesting info on this extensively researched plant.

My grandiflorums and sessile trilliums are about done. This was last week, they are fading now.

Trillium flore pleno, being swallowed by narcissus foliage. I will move it once it goes dormant.

Still waiting on luteum to grace me with it’s presence. Here it is last year.

The only Trillium I’m familiar with is grandiflorum. I’m not sure either one of these is that. Anyone know their Western NC Trillium? Here’s another one.

Here is my trillium, Trillium chloropetalum var. giganteum 'Volcano', a cultivated form of a west coast native species. It's been looking like this for the past month to 6 weeks and is now just starting to go over.