Satin Flower and Osoberry

You may recall I went up to Highrock Park a week or so ago in search of the earliest of indigenous spring flowers here, the Satin Flower. There were none visible then nor at my next visit a few days ago. But today, there they were, nodding delicately in the breeze. Spring is so late this year that I expect the spring flowers will be treading on each other's heels rather than appearing in the fairly measured progression they follow in normal years. One truly balmy spring day will do it. Below is an impressionistic treatment of another of the earliest native spring blooms I saw today, the Osoberry or Indian Plum.

Indian Plum

A few days ago I promised we'd have a look at early blooming wild flowers and here is the one I always notice as first and earliest. Indian Plum or Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis) is found on a small bush with a few bright spring-green leaves as it is pictured above. It produces a small fruit that figured in the diet of local First Nations people though I find it a bit tart for my tastes. It's also very popular with birds. These were photographed in Highrock Park but the plant is found all over the city in small parks or overgrown vacant lots.