Crocus Joy

The past few autumn seasons I have planted a bag of crocus bulbs on the south facing hill in our yard from the driveway to the Little Free Library on the corner, and this spring those crocus blooms, along with some others in the backyard that have been established for years are bringing me such joy! I love crocus blossoms.

I love how they are one of the first things to bloom in the spring, when the grass still mostly looks dead and brown. I love all the colors: white, yellow, and especially purple! I love how they can be planted right in the lawn and don’t even need a flowerbed. I especially love how the urban deer herds and rabbits just leave them alone!

Twenty seven years ago a college ministry team that I was a part of took a weekend trip to the far corner of North Dakota to visit the church of one of my good friends who was on the team. It had been a tough winter, and the spring was full of blizzards and floods and mayhem of all sorts. When we got there at the end of April, wild crocus were blooming in my friend’s pasture on the side of the bluffs. I sat on the side of a steep hill and prayed hard that a certain boy that I really liked for a long time would have a change of heart and like me after all, (I had been nearly ready to give up on the situation) and I picked some of those light purple crocus blossoms and pressed them in my Bible.

A week later that boy did have a change of heart (it’s a long story) and three weeks later we started dating. A year later we were engaged and a year after that we were married (25 years ago!). It’s no wonder I like crocus!

I will probably plant some more this year too. I don’t think I could really have too many crocus on the slope next to the sidewalk.