Spring - Are We There Yet?

I received one of my gardening catalogs in the mail today. As I browsed through page after page of beautiful flowers I became very anxious for spring to arrive. With nobody skiing this year and the snowmachines out of commission I haven't really enjoyed winter like I usually do. I have spent it cooped up in the house watching too much television. I went outside and saw the daffodils starting to come up through the soil and few other cold hardy souls are putting up little blossoms. I put in a lot of flowers last summer and so I am excited to see them come back up. They should be bigger and carry more flowers this year. I think I will put some trees in the yard this year also. I am hoping that my twisted flowering cherry survived the winter. With a few more warm days I might see it starting to bud. I am taken by the many colors of echinesia and will probably work on increasing my collection of them. They blossom so profusely and the flowers last for a long time. Last year we had quite a number of volunteer rudbeckias. I took the seeds and spread them around the yard. I am hoping that I will have a good crop of those also since they are a beautiful yellow/red/orange flower and the blossoms last for weeks. The snow is almost off the front yard and I can see my back patio so maybe spring isn't so far off.