Rathert has photographed the tiny blooms of witch hazel, a woodland shrub, on the last day of January. Improve your technique by photographing one particular species whenever you encounter it. You'll discover new approaches. Shoot often, keep written or mental notes, learn from your result. If you have flowers nearby, you can choose your time and light.
Gardens are good places to experiment.
With this inexpensive diffuser, you can keep shooting into the midday hours and achieve an effect closer to early light. Using it on one side of your subject and the reflector on the other, you can make a flower glow. Diffusion is the reason photographers like to shoot under an overcast sky. If we had an overcast sky today, an amber filter over the lens would warm the prairie colors. In a shady woodland, a light amber or magenta filter corrects the effect of greenish light on flowers.