Southampton - "And the spring comes slowly up this way." (Coleridge, Christabel). As spring begins, ever so slowly this year, our winter longing for color begins to give way to satisfaction. Some of the earliest color in spring landscapes comes from bulbs - the crocus and daffodils that open their chalices and unfurl their trumpets, but another reliable source of early spring color is flowering shrubs.

Forsythia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae (olive family).

Forsythia is in full brilliant bloom everywhere now, its blaring gold color almost synonymous with the advent of spring. But for some of us that shrill yellow of forsythias is too strident, too abundant, and too difficult to mix with other colors in the garden to be really appealing.

There are alternatives, though, other shrubs (besides the ubiquitous azaleas and rhododendrons) that can bring some welcome color to the spring garden with very little work on your part. Here are a few to consider planting.

The earliest bloomer of all is witch hazel (the source of the familiar astringent sold in bottles at the drugstore). Witch hazels can bloom as early as February, but March is more common, depending on the variety you plant. Their utterly delightful, sweetly fragrant flowers look like little bunches of fluttery ribbons. The original color is bright yellow, but there are other warm colors, too, among varieties of the hybrid species Hamamelis x intermedia. The variety 'Diane' has flowers of deep, earthy red; 'Jelena' is copper-colored and 'Pallida' is soft primrose yellow and especially fragrant (it's also smaller growing than other varieties and is a good choice for a small garden). If you want a golden yellow witch hazel, the classic 'Arnold Promise' (named for the Arnold Arboretum, where it was bred) is hard to beat.

The horticultural name, Hamamelis, for Witch Hazel, means "together with fruit," its fruit, flowers, and next year's leaf buds all appear on the branch simultaneously, a rarity among trees.

Witch hazels are tall shrubs with dark green leaves that turn rich yellow to deep red in autumn. They like a location in full sun, and moist but well-drained soil enriched with compost. They won't be happy in the sandy, dry conditions near the beach.

Another bright yellow early bloomer is Japanese kerria (Kerria japonica), an heirloom shrub that deserves to be better known. It's a smaller plant than witch hazel, growing up to six feet high, and a good choice for inclusion in a mixed border with perennials and other small shrubs. Best of all, kerria will grow in a lightly shaded garden - there aren't a lot of yellow flowers that thrive in shade.

The five-petaled blossoms festoon the upright branches in April. There's also a variety called 'Pleniflora' with double (many-petaled) golden flowers that look a bit like doll-sized versions of cheerleaders' pompoms.

Kerria is generally tough and adaptable, and if it starts to get too large for its space after several years, you can just cut it back to the ground after it blooms and let it start over. Columbines make lovely companions for kerria in the garden.

For a change from yellow, you could consider the Korean, or white, forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum). It's not a pretty plant, but it blooms very early - along with witch hazel and hellebores - and its white flowers are fragrant and abundant.

Here, the "Mountain Fire" variety of Kerria

Another white-flowered early bloomer, this one an evergreen, is Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica), which is sometimes mistakenly called andromeda. This plant is widely grown around the Hamptons, and its drooping clusters of tiny white bells are in bloom right now. If you bend down close to them, you'll detect their delicate scent. The plants grow tall over time, and need a shady spot to do well.

The oblong leaves of pieris are glossy and dark green. If you want to give this one a try, look for the variety 'Mountain Fire,' which has a more compact form and leaves that are rich red when they emerge.

Another wonderfully fragrant early bloomer is winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima), whose small, creamy white flowers fill the air with a lemony-sweet scent. Unlike the better known summer-blooming honeysuckles, this one's a shrub, not a vine, and a rangy one at that. It has a spreading form and works best planted along a driveway or property line where it can spread out.

One more shrub to consider including in your early spring garden is a real beauty all year-round. Japanese skimmia (Skimmia japonica) is generally dome-shaped, with lustrous evergreen leaves. Round clusters of hauntingly fragrant white flowers, sometimes tinged with pink, appear in spring. In the varieties 'Bronze Knight' and 'Rubella,' the flowers open from striking red buds. Female plants bear clusters of red berries later in the season. Lovely in a shady corner of the garden, skimmia makes an interesting companion for azaleas or rhododendrons. It thrives in our cool spring weather but can suffer in summer drought. Give it water during spells of hot, dry weather or it may fall victim to mites.

Add one or more of these shrubs to your landscape to help spring come a little less slowly next year. And maybe the weather will cooperate, too.