The forecast was for freezing rain with snowfall on its heels

After five long months of winter, I can’t describe how cruel that feels

So I packed my camera and coffee mug and headed out the door

To wrest that ball from winter’s court and even up the score

In my search for green and growing things, I didn’t look too hard

Before finding lots of ‘tommy’ crocuses in my own front yard

The small, violet flowers of Crocus tomassinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ in my own garden, affectionately nicknamed “tommies” by bulb fans.

But I’d set my sights on another spot and started up my car

The Toronto Botanical Garden, you see, isn’t really very far

And though the place was showing signs of a winter long and cruel

Iris ‘Katherine Hodgkin’ was looking sweet and icy-cool

The delightful striped flowers of Iris ‘Katherine Hodgkin’ are an unusual color.

And that sunny Danford iris seemed too mellow-yellow for words

Yellow danford irises emerge and flower before the foliage appears.

But ‘Donald Wyman‘ held all its fruit – what happened to hungry birds?

Leftover fruit on the ‘Donald Wyman’ crabapple may or may not be eaten by birds. If not, experts recommend that these “mummified” fruits should be removed and raked out of the garden as they can harbour brown rot fungus spores.

The ‘Primavera’ witch hazel was living up to her special name

Hamamelis ‘Primavera’ is a dependable, early witch hazel.

But the hellebores, a downcast lot, hung their pretty heads in shame

Hellebores tend to open their flowers in the warm sunshine. This one is unusual in having dramatic, dark-red foliage.

All except for Helleborus niger, which looked overjoyed to know

That a “Christmas” rose can look forward to an “Easter” week with snow!

Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) starts flowering in late winter or very early spring, well ahead of the lenten roses (H. orientalis hybrids)..

But then I found a gorgeous one with a pretty, upturned face

Yes, the aptly-named ‘Cinnamon Snow’ was spicing up the place

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Cinnamon Snow is a popular hybrid hellebore bred in Germany by Josef Heuger.

The honey bees stayed in their hives, but the hover flies were flying

And nectaring on the winter heath (though the wind made that feat trying)

Winter heath (Erica carnea) offers food for early foragers, including hover flies, bumble bees and honey bees.

The crocuses were a safer bet and a white one offered pollen

(Who knows where her next meal might be once the April snow has fallen?)

Crocus stamens offer a rich source of springtime pollen for many bees and flies.

And pink chionodoxa – or what the taxonomists have now decreed

Should be considered part of Scilla – fulfilled this one’s dining need

Pink glory-of-the-snow attracts a hover fly.

The wind picked up old autumn leaves and blew them from the beds

Uncovering the winter aconites with their sweet, fringed flower-heads

Winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) are among the earliest spring bulbs to flower, but tend to close in the afternoon or on colder days. When open, they are very attractive to bees.

Narcissus ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’ seemed to be a few weeks late

The explosion of colour will come, no doubt , but for now I have to wait

Narcissus ‘Rijnfeld’s Early Sensation’ is later than usual this spring.

The showers started and I packed things up and headed to my car

Past a drift of Crocus ‘Gipsy Girl’ – a dark-striped springtime star

‘Gipsy Girl’ is a very good multiplier, spreading in low clumps.

By the time I arrived at home the wind was blowing up a gale

The temperature was falling fast and the rain fell hard as hail

But the earth was growing green again and it made my spirit sing

That this dark and stormy April day had yielded signs of spring