Spring is here when the flowers are out. Not the cossetted imported crocuses and daffodills, lovely as they are in dooryards and pots. But the native flowers, the wild ones, who in their own time, spring up from their own patch of earth.

First here in Nova Scotia was the coltsfoot - sunny yellow flowers a few inches high, with dark waxy jointed stalks.  Pick one and turn it upside down - the jointed stalk is like a colt's thin leg; the bunchy flower at then end like a horse's hoof.  Right side up again, the flower splays out in a one-inch broad little sun.   Along the roadsides, wherever there is a strip of earth, these early flowers spread their discs, brightening the rather bare spring.

The next flower, the Mayflower or Trailing Arbutus, is harder to find. Hidden away in a bank in the woods, it shelters under its own last-year's leaves. Look sharp for a small dot of whiteness - lift the leaves and underneath you will find a spray of several blossoms.  The five petals are white with a pinkish tinge. Bend closer and you will experience their heavenly perfume.  The Mayflower, official flower of Nova Scotia, is by tradition the goal of spring "maying" parties,  who used to bring back armfuls of the vines, with their  oval green leaves and delicate fragrant flowers.  Too much love for the flower uproots the vines, which become scarce. 

I search diligently in damp woods, but when I find these jewels I pick only one or two, leaving the rest to endure and spread.