Every year, we wait for it. The tiny Siberian wildflower known to us as scilla, announces spring as nothing else does. I had never heard of it before moving to Northfield, but now it is one of my very favorites.

In a few weeks, the whole town will be awash with these intense blue blooms. For several weeks now, I have been watching the hearty green spears begin to poke out of the ground and take snow squalls in their stride. Today–when the sky was an iron-fisted grey, not allowing a single golden ray or a glimpse of blue to slip through the clouds–the muddy ground yielded this exciting vanguard of spring. Very cheering!

Leslie