It's a long time in "Spring" before the mainstream "Spring" stuff like rhodies and azaleas get going. It's actually hot out. For Spring when it's chilly and still making up its mind—which is, I'd think, when we all need Spring the most—look farther.
No, farther even than forsythia. Your neighbor has that already anyway.
Corylopsis bloom even earlier than forsythia, with more nuanced flowers followed (as I'll post later), unlike forsythia, by dynamite foliage. (I'll post when this bush's foliage comes out.) And the branching is better than forsythia too: Strong horizontals as well as strong verticals. Corylopsis can be big—ten even fifteen feet wide as well as tall—but unlike forsythia they never come across as just a dump of twigs waiting for the compost heap.But first the flowers:
Here's a mature Corylopsis pauciflora from a client's garden. Click to enlarge it—the details are so satisfying. (There are several other species. It's not important to get worked up about which particular one; pauciflora is hardy and, for a corylopsis, not overly big. So it's a great one to start with. In this regard, then, it's the counterpart of Hamamelis "Arnold Promise": foolproof and glad-to-see you. If you only have one hamamelis, Arnold Promise is a great one to have. Only one corylopsis? Do pauciflora.)
The flowers are in pendant chains, a soft yellow-green instead of the sunglass-inducing chrome yellow of forsythia. They are fragrant too, although it's not a penetrating, traveling, "watch it roll toward you" fragrance like with Daphne mezereum, true. But continuing my theme (I see) of honoring plants that are stylish stalwarts when any garden needs them the most, I say that you should just get out there in the chill and drizzle and bring your nose to your corylopsis. It's working hard (but with joy), so give back a little effort in return.
But why not corylopsis from my own garden? Well, one or two are on the plans—but for areas that are only this year getting transformed from Before (i.e., ignored mess) to After (gardens). And even the small corylopsis ain't small enough. Until, that is, I discovered Corylopsis gotoana 'March Jewel', which gets only eighteen inches high (and yes, five feet across, so it's only dwarf in one dimension). I hope to snag one of those this Fall, unless you beat me to it at Camellia Forest nursery.