Where I live, the flowers are far from blooming, the trees nowhere near budding. The only ploughs we might be charming would be the snowplows, and really that should have been done back in October. (Winter is long in these parts. :))
So for me the traditional associations of February 2 have always been distant ones, symbolic only, something that will happen at some point in the near(ish) future. The new-growth energies still lie buried and will for some months.
What that means is that, here, seasonally-based Imbolc rituals have always felt a little weak. The connection isn't quite there yet. You don't quite feel it. It's too soon.
So for me, Imbolc has to be about the goddess herself, Brigid.
