The winter jasmine, with its yellow bells, erupted, an event that leads many to think the forsythias are abloom.

Spring in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains is nothing less than an endowment from the natural world: flowering dogwoods and pink redbuds, daffodils, crocuses and winter jasmine infuse the already verdant landscape.

In the spring and fall, there is winter jasmine, as well as peach and plum trees.

One of the showiest is the winter jasmine, with its bright yellow blooms atop mounded stems.

“Most of them, like your winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, are not native to this area and are not adapted to our seasons and our pollinators.”