is it spring yet?

            this is part of the lost gardens of heligan in cornwall england. i want to go there one day.

 this is such an ugly time of year. and my garden is no exception.
i kept putting off the fall cleanup of my garden. tomorrow i'll get at it. this weekend for sure, and then it snowed. i never did get it done, and now it looks like one of those children you see in the save the children ads. dirty, neglected, sad and unloved.
dead flower stalks, scraggley bushes, fallen leaves, a broken flower pot or two. it's not pretty. i will have my work cut out for me if and when spring ever decides to arrive.
i was wandering through the rubble and lo and behold! my heliotropes have poked through the snow, seed pods ready to burst into bloom any day now and my magnolia bush has tiny buds appearing. can spring be far behind? this inspired me to haul out my gardening magazines and start making a wish list for the weird and the wonderful, no petunias for me, i like my jungle.
this year i will have more time to devote to my garden.
perhaps i will make a moss sculpture of my own.