Stand under a deciduous tree, close your eyes and count to 5. Look up - check! the canopy opens. Somewhere someone has pulled the rip-chord of spring.
Living in an area designated as forest, it is usually the oaks that are the unmistakable starting-gun. Certainly they are not unique in cracking buds in the last week and a half; they closely followed the weeping willows and matched the uncurling corrugations of beech and the spreading fingers of chestnut.
For those of you who are shy and watch the ground, the rapid development of arum maculatum has been spectacular in the past week. For those who are too bashful yet for this bold plant, then the sudden burst of primrose leaf that has followed the flowers may be the sign that the seasons continue to turn.
April though. It cannot be certain yet that winter is over, whatever the warming statistics might say.
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