Garden Blues

Wood Violet
(Viola canadensis)

Siberian Squill
(Scilla siberica)

Here, the first stirrings in my garden, not the wild garden in Lanark, but the one which enfolds the little blue house in the village. Every year I look for these inaugural appearances, these small fervent April offerings, and every year I marvel at the intensities which these early bloomers bring to the garden, so fragile, so miniscule and so resilient are they. These vibrant blues are essential elements of Spring returning to the north — at dawn's first blush, at high noon or in early evening, they grace my garden with colours almost too rich and too deep for the eye to assimilate.