Looking for Spring Flowers

Beautiful spring flowers, taken by Sister Carleen Schomer

This is the second day this week that I have gone for a walk expressly to find spring flowers. I just love those cute little purple squills, for example. Since I’ve walked St. Ben’s campus for years, I quickly made a mental list as to where to look. So, I headed straight toward HAB (Henrita Academic Building) because I remember a rather obscure spot near the ASB (Academic Services Building) where just one small bunch of grape hyacinth appears every spring. Sure enough! It was there! Lovely as ever!

Encouraged, I headed to the BAC (Benedict Arts Center) because daffodils/jonquils might already be in bloom between HCC (Haehn Campus Center) and BAC. Well, I found daffodils all right, and tulips, but most glorious were the grape hyacinths there. Can you imagine the beauty of yellow and purple all together in one bed? It will be lovely when the daffodils start blooming. They are in bud stage right now, too.

Still hopeful, I headed to Clemens Library where daffodils and tulips almost always grow beneath the trees between the library and the science building. Ah, yes, they, too, are still only buds. Spring so far has been slow, chilly and windy.

What about Lottie? Would there be tulips in front of this residence hall around the circle drive? No, not much evidence of flowers there. Disappointing.

Next I headed to the West Apartments where a variety of flowers appear near the dumpster on the back side. Daffodils and tulips were in early stages of bloom there, too, and I also spotted more grape hyacinths.

All in all, my walks were slightly disappointing, but I heard the cardinals whistling to one another, as well as chickadees or were they phoebes? Oh, and today was warmer, so I ventured behind the sisters’ garage to find my favorite—two little squills.

That’s hopeful, isn’t it?

Mary Jane Berger, OSB