The Flower Hour #19: First Flower of 2026

Published on by Yinglan

I couldn’t believe it. Of all the places I expected the first bloom of 2026 to be, it’s in the least expected place – my side yard.

I was weeding the backyard over the weekend. It’s not even March and I’m already weeding. My backyard neighbor’s dandelion and crabgrass have begun invading my side of the fence and it seemed it’s even growing a little more vigorous this year. I can tell it’s going to be a long weeding season.

I grabbed the grass and yanked, the whole thing came out, easier than I expected. Pulling aside the leaf mulch, I saw what it was. The soil was black and loose, there’s no sign of the horrible clay, did it have something to do with the layer of my homemade compost I put on top last autumn?

At around 4 PM, I declared I had enough of bending over pulling grass and dandelion for the day. I grabbed the bucket full of weeds and dumped it into the compost pile. I stood there for a moment and looked at the mess that was the side yard – leaves scattered all over the place and muddy.

That was when I saw it, something different. I gasped, “No way!” The first crocus, the first flower of 2026. I have been expecting the first flower to be in the front yard, after all, it does face south. I guess nature is surprising this way.

The Flower Hour

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