The hour of the snowdrops is all but done when the tiny Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii) appears in the lee of woodland daffodils.

 

 

 

 

Tiny, of a vibrant purple blue and, more rarely, pale blue, they displace not only the snowdrops but also the spring crocuses, pushing them to the wall.

 

 

 

They take over where only last week the yellow Amur adonis was blooming

 

 

 

 

so that now the only yellow is a haze from the early forsythia

 

 

 

 

behind the bare bones of the stand of Sargent crabapples.

 

 

 

 

Yellow also the Japanese dogwood which appears like a wraith at the beginning of its flowering cycle at this time of year.

 

 

 

 

No bushes are in bloom except the Pieris japonica, pink and white.

 

 

 

 

 

and the early viburnum, pink and white also, holding off a little longer.

 

 

 

 

If the bushes did not hold off,

 

 

 

 

this first of the squadron of tiny, wondrous Spring blues to bloom would have no hope of basking in the sunlight and we would  have less of our customary Spring solace.