They are unfurling fast as if they must hurry and there is no time at all to lose. The tiny buds have swollen already. Then miniature leaves have started to pull out. It is surely too soon, does nature know what it is doing? It must do, I tell myself it is March after all and we are well into meteorological spring. Even so just to be on the safe side I cover my plant at night when the temperature drops below zero. It stands there like a shivering ghost with its arms outspread daring the frost to come near.