Guilty Pleasure

Here's another spring flower that blooms in Highrock Park in the early spring. They seem to thrive in the cold since they are even more numerous and vigourous this year than I've seen them in the past. They are not an indigenous species; probably escaped from someone's garden years ago and have naturalized themselves in a small patch of Highrock Park. I titled this post guilty pleasure because despite the fact that these Glory of the Snow plants are an invasive species, I look forward to seeing them every spring and photographed these yesterday. Below is an impressionistic treatment of these blue beauties.

Highrock Park

I like to go up to Highrock Park at this time of year because it gives me a good idea of where we are in the progression of spring flowers. I went up there on Sunday to see if there were any Satin Flowers - usually the first of the small wildflowers. No sign of the Satin Flowers yet but the little patch of Lucille's Glory of the Snow was blooming (pictured above). It's another very early bloomer though it is not indigenous and must have escaped from someone's garden long ago.

Lucile's Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa luciliae)

Here's another of Highrock Park's early bloomers, Lucile's Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa luciliae). It's not a native plant but has established its own little patch in the park where it is thriving. Who was Lucile? The plant was named in honour of Lucile, the wife of the Swiss botanist Pierre Edmond Boissier, a 19th century naturalist who cataloged many species of plants.

Lucile's Glory-of-the-snow

Lucile's Glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa luciliae) are an invasive species but are so lovely in the early spring that I always end up photographing them. Those above are escapes from someone's garden that come up every year in the same spot in Highrock Park.