A quick stroll around my Connecticut gardens brought this surprize.

That's right … narcissi bulbs already poking their inquisitive heads out of the ground as if to say, «Is it time?»

My response when I first spotted them on January 2?  A resounding, «NO!»

The calendar says January. We should have snow on the ground and be bundled up in front of a roaring fire.

But, outside of a couple of below-freezing days earlier this week it's been ridiculously warm. Today it's 50 degrees outside and there is no snow or winter-type cold in the forecast.

Obviously, bulbs don't follow the calendar. They follow a mysterious internal clock that signals when it's time to grow.

From their point of view they had snow (it came in October), they had some cold here and there, and now they're responding to a stretch of spring-like warmth.

Maybe I should listen to what their presence is suggesting. Maybe … though it's January … mild temperatures will continue. Maybe narcissi will be blooming in February.

I'm not ready to buy this. I still expect to get slammed with a nasty stretch of winter weather. Of course it will hit when all New Englanders have really let their winter guard down and lost their winter blood. That's just the way these things work.

So I did what any mother hen gardener would do.

I covered my early risers hoping a conifer blanket will hold the chill in the soil and slow the bulbs' growth.

Time will tell if this tactic works.

At the very least it makes me feel that I've done my best to fool the young whippersnappers back to sleep.