Do you like your roses best when they’re in full-blown full bloom?

Shrub Rose ‘Sophy’s Rose’ (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Or …

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How does that adage go? Would you rather be a big duck in a little pond, or a little duck in a big pond? Clearly, this lady mallard–who looks right at home in the Home Gardening Center‘s rather small pond–has made up her mind.

Big Duck, Small Pond (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

This just in: The first rose of the year has bloomed in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. Let’s hear a round of applause for Rosa blanda!

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Whenever I see a photograph of one of the terminal wings of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, I can’t help but think it looks like a vaguely Victorian flying machine from a really great children’s book. What do you think?

The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Are you tired of cherry blossom pictures yet? Nope? Good, because I’m not either!

Nope, not an early April Fool’s Day joke, just a trick of the water.

Twin Lakes Reflection (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

It seemed too good to be true. All winter, I kept holding my breath; I kept thinking in the back of my mind that winter had to arrive eventually; that all these nascent flowers and blooms and buds would be pummeled, at last, by a snowstorm as equally freakish as the October 29 blizzard that blew in like some harbinger of an Arctic winter. But, it never came. It never happened. And now, in mid-March it is glorious. On several occasions it has been warmer in the Bronx than in Los Angeles. The birds are singing, the breeze is blowing, sweaters have been (mostly) relegated to the bottom drawer, and flowers are popping up all over the Garden.

Prunus 'Okame' flowering cherry near the Library Building

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Can you believe this weather? I can’t imagine that it can last, and after this week’s earlier cold snap, I have vowed to take advantage of every warm day the winter of 2012 throws at me by getting outside and taking a walk. Today during lunch I took my new favorite stroll through the Forest. The walk takes just under an hour if you really dawdle and take your time to admire the winter landscape. This weather is perfect for this: just chilly enough to make the bare branches not seem out of place, and just warm enough to let me linger and admire all the interesting things in the Forest without getting frozen toes. So, I encourage you to take advantage of this unusual weather, too, and come visit the Garden this warm winter weekend. Come for the Holiday Train Show, but stay for the Forest. This is a rare gift, enjoy it!

My walk starts at Twin Lakes. The lakes–which just a week ago were busy with muskrats and ducks–are finally beginning to show signs of freezing.

See what the Spicebush Trail has to offer winter walkers below.

And now that we have turned the corner on the shortest day of the year and are in the midst of the Festival of Lights, all seems a little brighter, too.

Bronx River and the Forest (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Though I’m no longer holding my breath for a white Christmas, I’m not bummed, because that just means more lunchtime walks in the Forest!

Fall Foliage on Twin Lakes (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)