It was a gray and chilly Tuesday morning—perfect for gardening—and volunteers met up at Chautauqua at 9 to play in dirt.

We tackled the small stuff: tiny dandelions, not-yet-out-of-control curly dock, a few hardy sprigs of creeping bellflower.

I spent much of the first hour just looking—training my eyes to distinguish the natives from the invasives, memorizing placement of valuables like wild iris. All the shoots are small and green, and at this early stage of spring, it takes an educated eye to tell the friendly from the aggressive ones.

Imagine my surprise when I suddenly spotted right under my nose the first pasqueflowers of the season! I had been staring at this piece of ground for an hour or more before I saw them.

Pasqueflowers are famous for the tiny hairs, the furry surface, they present to the sky to preserve their tissue-paper petals and lancelike leaves from getting iced by spring snows. Here is the post I wrote about them a year ago.

In another day or two the blooms will be wide open, their whitish interiors framing a crown of golden stamens. Ahhh! When I see pasqueflowers, I know spring is finally here.