I haven’t even started looking yet, but I’ve seen other’s posting pictures. It was a bit of a surprise. We still have more than a week left in April. But apparently no has told the mayflowers.
We didn’t have a whole lot of winter this year, so maybe that had something to do with it. And we have had a couple nice days already. But I still wasn’t ready to start seeing mayflowers. Although it’s not really all that unusual for them to start showing up this time of year.
Mayflowers, or trailing arbutus, have long been seen as an early sign of spring. They live close to the ground and are fairly cold tolerant, so as soon as any snow is gone they’re pretty much ready to go. And they have been our provincial flower since 1901.
Although I’m sometimes surprised to see them around. Both ruffed grouse and deer are said to find them rather appetizing and there is certainly no shortage of deer around. But from what I have been seeing, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of mayflowers around this year either.
I’m going to have to check around to see if I can find a few over the weekend. If there are enough, you might even be able to smell them before you see them, which, when it comes to mayflowers, is a good thing. Which is another thing I like about them. They smell nice.
So I’ll be the one sniffing around the woods, scaring away the deer.
But I still think they should wait until May. It’s in the name.