Minnesota Prairie Roots

EACH SPRING THEY EMERGE, poking through a layer of dried leaves mulching my front flowerbed.

When I spot the tender green shoots of crocuses, I feel a surge of optimism that winter is winding down. However, as a life-long Minnesotan, I also tamp my excitement. Snow falls in April here and sometimes in May. And these crocuses were bursting already in late March.

Days after I removed the leaves, exposing the crocuses to sunshine and air, they grew quickly. Soon purple blossoms spread wide, revealing golden centers like spots of sunshine.

I delight in the shades of purple, notice the lines tracing the petals, the way the flowers hug the ground as if also tentative about the season.

This first flower of spring seems to me courageous. Braving the cold of Minnesota, determined to reach the sunshine, to make a strong statement of hope that the cold and dark of winter will give way to warmth and light.

TELL ME: I’d like to hear your first flower of spring story.

© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling