Dear Friends, About a week ago I wrote disdaining the use of the "B" word in my dull bloomless garden. Since then the thermal roller coaster has included single digits and 2 record highs (70 F and 68 F) a couple days apart, but more importantly to my gardener's sensibility the first rain in over a month. I hesitate to call less than 1/4 in a rain: a sprinkle or a wetting, but very brief. Yesterday a survey showed Many blooms on Crocus ancyrensis with golden flowers flaunting the brown surroundings. A very few Crocus sieberi 'Firefly' in a patch of hundreds yet to appear. A single Crocus sieberi 'Bowles White' so eager to put in a show that I see no sign of foliage, just a single wide open flower. A range of Galanthus from the reliable 'S. Arnott' and "Mighty Atom Not" (of Don Hackenberry) to some new cvs and species including an intriguing one with conspicuously wide foliage I'll have to track down an ID on. A few, but scattered Eranthis heimale struggling through dry earth, but braving a bright show of yellow. Adonia amurensis have emerged and await the next signal to open fully. Various Lycoris species are showing the tips of foliage in very healthy green shade. A large specimen of the Witch Hazel H. 'Pallida' went from a single insignificant bud showing color to a dusting of flowers across the substantial shrub. Narcissus 'RES' * is up and a few show color in emerging buds. Quite a re-birth in an otherwise dead looking garden landscape. Last night we had a 'real' rain. No working rain gauge, but obviously well over 1/4 to 1/2 inch of rain and still seen as puddles on concrete. The forecasts showing nights dipping into the teens and I suspect we have not seen the last of the single digit weather yet, either, but these few stalwarts provide incentive and inspiration for the coming of spring. Vive la difference ! Best Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +