It's always such a delight to see these early spring flowers blooming after seven long winter months of snow and ice on the ground. This winter, though, has been so wonderfully mild, with little snow, but it was still great to see the clusters of these Hepatica flowers growing at the Reader Rock garden yesterday, 6 April 2016, when I called in after a volunteer shift.

I wanted to see what flowers had started to grow already, as plants in general are blooming early this year, thanks to the mild weather. The main flowers were all the Hepatica, varying slightly in colour with some paler, as in this photo. There were also scattered tiny Squill flowers and a single Snowdrop plant growing in its usual spot. Funny how this plant hasn't spread anywhere else.

"Hepatica is named from its leaves, which, like the human liver (Greek hepar), have three lobes. It was once used as a medicinal herb. Owing to the doctrine of signatures, the plant was once thought to be an effective treatment for liver disorders. Although poisonous in large doses, the leaves and flowers may be used as an astringent, as a demulcent for slow-healing injuries, and as a diuretic"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatica