and suddenly, the season so tentative before – becomes immediate

Last weekend, the compost layer on the back-yard flowerbed was brown and wet and I resigned myself to not seeing any flowers this spring. Then yesterday, after two days of rain, cold and grey, the crocus and snowdrops sprouted. (I’ve been looking at the crocus in other people’s yards with envy. And I so want snowdrops back in my garden.)

By Sunday morning, the closed buds in the above image, opened and revealed white petals. (There’s an image of the open flowers in the slide show.) I had forgotten that I had planted white crocus bulbs. I kept expecting purple flowers. Am glad for the surprise. The purple crocus in the slide show are from Diane’s garden. Then last night on our way home, I noticed, around the base of a Sycamore up the street from the Halperns, a cluster of crocus . I went back this morning and, in the early light, shot the flowers.

The grape hyacinths and the pink cyclamens are from the greenhouse in Allen Gardens in old Toronto.