I am too impatient to have hands-off gardening until spring. Kay needs flowers in the house all year long. Spring usually starts with Snowdrops, Anemone and Crocus. All too frequently they are then buried under another snowfall, sometimes not to be seen again until their flowers are disheveled. The Scilla, Daffodils and Tulips generally manage to hold off flowering until the season of snow is over.
Gardeners are eternal optimists.
All one has to do is to go to the weekly Farmer's Market in the spring. If the day is warmer than frigid and almost sunny despite it being five weeks before outdoor planting is locally feasible, attendees gather up all the flowering plants and flats they can manage. I must confess to beating even that early gun by going to a nursery with a large greenhouse to imbibe a bit of summer while desolation rules outside. Tropical conservatories are also a favorite of mine in the winter, and in summer too. Then comes summer, warm, sometimes sunny, and gardening is at its height.