Three Ways to Spring

This year spring arrived on my calendar at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20, 2018.  This is the vernal equinox and the astrological spring determined by the sun’s position.  I personally don’t feel like spring has arrived yet where I live. 
Full disclosure:  The pictures in this post are from prior years, we are still in winter mode.  

According to the National Weather Service, “The first day of spring is the only moment each year that the Earth’s tilt is zero in relation to our sun. So, if you were standing on the equator, the sun would pass directly over your head.”
 
There is another way to think about spring and it's called the meteorological spring.  It is based on seasonal weather and temperature patterns.  According to National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the meteorological seasons were created because traditional seasons varied in length from 89 to 93 days and it was difficult for experts to compare statistics from one year to another.  They declared the months of March, April and May the meteorological “spring”.
 
Now I beg to differ with both the astrological and meteorological springs.  Where I live spring doesn’t come until I see something popping out of the ground or budding out.  That probably will not happen until mid-April in a very good year.  It certainly is not today.  We have snow on our roof and about a foot left on the ground.  A friend of mine commented today that my garden looked very good.  Thank you very much, that foot of white snow covers up a lot of messiness.  But it is getting a bit old.
 
I cut a few branches to force about a month ago.  They are finally showing some pussy willow buds and the first leaves are out on the dogwood cuttings.  They were shy to appear and that is in our warm, sometimes sunny house.

​For now, I will be satisfied with this bit of spring and wait for the horticultural spring.  When I see some crocus poking through the ground, pussy willows budding outside, maple buds swelling, and forsythia blooming.  Then it will be spring, horticulturally speaking by my definition.