Ron Hardin wrote in news:46053380.27B4
@mindspring.com:

I noticed, now that I'm weed-aware, that the first wildflower to poke
up in Central Ohio is coltsfoot (Mar 21) ; beating forsythia by a long
time.

It's just that some neighbor always had forsythia, so you noticed it.

We have forsythia here and the lilacs are the first to sprout green leaves.

In my fire pit, there are pumpkin sprouts from last year's discarded Jack-
O-Lanterns coming up!