One of the great things about Washington DC is that we don't usually have enough winter to put the garden down

Of course winter hasn't begun yet, but since two late-winter/early spring bloomers have begun to flower.....27 F two night in a row isn't quite enough to trash the Camellias, even with a day's snowfall thrown in. And it isn't every year that Prunus mume starts flowering in early December, but this cultivar, 'Shiro-ninawa' is always the first to flower. Chimonanthus praecox is more likely to begin ist long flowering season before the middle of the month, still the flowers don't usually open while the foliage is still lush and green.