Seeing the first small snow crocuses each year is akin to discovering that someone scattered jewels over your garden at night. My first tiny, goblet-shaped flowers usually peek out from under the privet hedge on the north side of the house. Later, a few appear in the front strip, generally alongside the somewhat showier snowdrops. … Read more
Every year in early to mid December, a few snowdrops or galanthus pop up in the little bed by my back porch steps. Depending on your perspective, they are either the last flowers of the old season or the first flowers of the new season. I prefer to think of them as a reminder that … Read more
We are approaching the vernal equinox, when, as the name suggests, the hours of daylight and darkness are equal. It happens again in the fall with the autumnal equinox, but I think the spring event is happier and more hopeful, because the days continue to lengthen afterwards If the word “equinox” is full of possibilities, … Read more
I am absolutely ridiculous about the first flowers of spring. I start checking the beds around New Year’s, hungry for even the smallest bit of color in my drab slice of suburbia. When I do spot something—crocus, snowdrop or winter flowering jasmine blossoms—I feel my spirits lift. It may be 25 degrees and sleeting, but … Read more
When I made my first forays into wild plant identification as a child and teenager, a handy field guide always lurked somewhere nearby. My trusty and well-used Peterson’s Guide—actually Peterson Field Guides: Wildflowers—still sits on my office shelf. Some of the plants have been reclassified and renamed since it was published, but its arrangement, descriptions … Read more
