One Minute Later

The darkness continues to descend but the end is in sight; on the 19th December it will get dark one minute later than the day before.  One whole minute, not a minute earlier but a minute later.  Sadly the mornings do not start to roll back until January 4th but we cannot have everything we want all at once now can we.
We have usually had more frost and cold than we have had so far this year, this is not a grumble, it is just a statement.  It means that some things are still growing, such as the grass and the weeds.  This does not diminish though the needs for signs of hope and the need to know that next year's growth will soon be on its way.  Studying the signs of growth is one of my favorite past-times this time of year.
I realize that I have quite a few early spring flowering scented shrubs.  This Daphne mezereum is one of my favourites,
and so is Prunus Beni chidori.
I already have the winter honeysuckle flowering well, and this is a must-grow plant for me.  The scent is second to none in my view.
The corkscrew hazel is getting its catkin thing going.
I am watching the Edgeworthia anxiously, hoping that it gets through the winter and hoping that it flowers for me for the first time next year.
The Cornus mas has flower buds on it this year, quite a few.  This year it managed one or two flowers and it looks like there will be lots more next year.
and the witch hazel has its knobbly-bobbly look.  This particular tree flowers very well year on year, it is worth its weight in gold.
So the nights will roll back, the days will get longer and there will be flowers in the Spring.  All is well.