First Flowers: Early Blue Violet

Note: I'd photographed the Shepherdia- previous short- thinking they were the first non-tree species to flower, then found this first patch of Violas with quite a few flowers suggesting they'd been flowering at least for a few days, so it's a toss-up as to which species was really first, but they are both early starters for the Latvian Time of Flowers season! Spring can seem slow in the Boreal Forest- native plants are cautious as early warm spells come with still frosty nights and occasional snowfalls can continue well into May. The trees are the boldest, and poplar and willow catkins come early. Typically, the first herbaceous flowering plants show up in wetlands, the standing water from snowmelt nurturing the early shoots. This year, the winter snowfall was lower than average and melted and soaked in gradually, leaving very little standing water. Perhaps for this reason (and there could be other micro-local issues around invasive grasses, timing and amount of seasonal cattle grazi