Celtic spring

Today marks Imbolc, a Celtic holiday I'd never heard of -- before signing up last fall for a online nature and place-based writing course marked by Celtic holidays.

Hmm, so far we've gone through Samhain (All Hallows Eve/Halloween) and Winter Solstice -- now Imbolc.

Imbolc seems to have turned into Groundhog Day (in North America), in an odd turn --  as the holiday is really about celebrating signs of spring and lengthening days.

So why not thoughts about whether we'll have more weeks of winter to come, or not?

Japanese apricots, crocuses, and snowdrops are already in flower (non-native all).

Prunus mume (Japanese apricot)

Our first native is usually Hepatica, but usually not until late February (lots of posts in the past about first spring flowers!)

I'm noting, too, that in 2009, I wrote about exceptionally early flowering (in January) in our non-native flora, including winter annuals like henbit.