What joy to see the year's first snowdrops. Whether in gardens or carpeting woodland, their dazzling whiteness cannot fail to lift your spirits.
But snowdrops are not winter's only gems. My first yellow aconites opened a week before any snowdrops.
But even those weren't the earliest. That honour goes to Crocus imperati whose first purple and beige flower opened on November 20. That same clump is still producing blooms.
Other winter charmers include reticulate irises. Those flower from late January and team well with snowdrops. There are a couple of winter scillas, too. Butthose lack the charisma of spring-blooming Scilla siberica and related chionodoxas.