For certain aircraft, your first indication of a stall (though you already know you're close) will be a gentle and controllable wing drop. All Citabrias I have stalled come to mind.
@PilotDar... ooh, if ever you're in the Bay Area, I can show you a real treat... a Citabria that is utterly unflyable in a sustained stall ("falling leaf"). It rolls hard and quickly into a left knife edge, no matter what you do. I was flying with my acro instructor and he of course derided my ability to fly properly... until he tried it. (Proviso: they may have retrimmed it and fixed it since, this was a long while ago).