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Flowers

First On The Scene: Snowdrops and Crocuses

“The snow drops here are so amazing and pretty. That means I love them.” says Hannah. “The bulbs here are just the right size. They are a little bit big but not huge as my mom. The crocuses what are growing at here are so pretty. They are orange and some are purple, and the snow drops are sometimes white, but not all of them are white.”

“Oh yeah,” I ask, “what other colors are they?”

“They are pink and sometimes purple.” says Hannah.

“hmmm… I don’t think that those are snow drops.” I say.

Hannah replies, “Sort of the crocuses are much prettier, but not all of the time.”

Over the last two weeks as we’ve been walking home from school the green stalks of bulb flowers have become very noticeable bordering the sidewalk in almost every yard. Then in the last two days the very first bulbs have opened. First it was simply the white droopy heads of snowdrops, but yesterday we witnessed the bright colors of crocuses here and there in colorful patches. Last weekend was Groundhog day, which holds the place of the Imbolc Festival of the ancient Celts. Imbolc was in honor of Brighid, but it was also a time when the very first inklings of spring were honored along with the lambing season. What a perfect time for the bulbs to shoot up out of the ground, most of them not yet flowers, but a promise of spring.