Provincial flower blooming in abundance

Spring has sprung in western Manitoba. And one of the surest signs of spring in Manitoba has got to be Manitoba’s provincial flower, the prairie crocus.

This particularly hardy member of the buttercup family, which bursts forth out of the grasslands in pasturelands and along riverbanks throughout the province, is apparently blooming in abundance this year.

“There are a lot more crocuses this year than there have been in the past,” Bee City Brandon chair Sherry Punak-Murphy told the Sun this week. “That’s normal for a prairie. Some years are good for certain species, and some years aren’t. It all depends on weather and dryness and wet. This just happens to be a good year for crocuses.”

Aside from her duties with Bee City Brandon, Punak-Murphy is a Westman-based biogeographer who takes special interest in local plant life.

There is a particular plot of land that she has been monitoring in western Manitoba for nearly three decades. And this year, she says it’s easy to tell just on a visual inspection that there are more crocuses coming up out of the ground than there have been in the past.

Why that is, however, is a little bit of a mystery — at least to her.

“I’ve worked in the Prairies for almost 30 years, and I can’t seem to predict why some flowers are plentiful one year and not plentiful the next,” she said. “My guess is it’s rainfall, heat. Who knows? Some scientists would know. But I couldn’t tell you.”

The prairie crocus is known for its ability to bloom even in cold temperatures, thanks in part to its protective woolly hairs, according to Nature Conservancy Canada.

The earliest bloom that Punak-Murphy ever saw during her land observation was April 3, 2000, and the latest on May 8, 2010, with the average date landing on about April 20.

Her work with Bee City Brandon comes in handy with this particular flower as well, because the prairie crocus is the first food source for wild bees in Manitoba, in particular the hive queens.

“It is pollinated by bees and wind,” she wrote in a followup email. “One of the first food sources for our native bees in Southwest Manitoba, along with blooming trees and shrubs such as willows.”

While Bee City Brandon has been working to grow wild prairie crocus from seed at the revived Eleanor Kidd Gardens along the Assiniboine River, Punak-Murphy says anyone out for a stroll along the riverbank right now will likely find some.

“There are two pollinator gardens that have been planted by Sylvia Barber at the riverbank. And I have a sneaking suspicion that, now that we’ve got one growing there, there’s going to be a time when there’s going to be a lot more.”

In the organization’s attempt to bring crocus blooms to Eleanor Kidd, Bee City Brandon has been using crocus seed provided by Skinner Native Seeds near Roblin.

Skinner, a retired teacher and principal turned horticulturist, lives on his family homestead south of the community and operates the native seed business with his son, Michael. Both men have extensive knowledge of prairie ecology and seed production, and are active in ecological restoration projects in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

As part of his work, Skinner collects crocus seeds out in the wild in order to use them for prairie restoration work. He says that prairie crocuses thrive in undisturbed, sunny areas. If crocus searchers are out looking for a good photo, he adds, their best bet is to look for wild prairie remnants.

“Look for some places that haven’t been disturbed,” Skinner said. “And if you find it, there’s a good chance, if it’s a sunny, well-drained spot, you’re going to find crocus.”

A second location would be pastureland that has been well grazed by cattle.

“If they graze it hard, you’re going to see more crocus,” Skinner said, adding that the crocus plant is very long lived, with some of them living several decades.

“They (also) grow quite readily from seed. We have no problem germinating the seed.”

Crocus is also plentiful around the Spruce Woods Provincial Park region.

While the crocus blooms are the first harbinger of spring, the flower bloom time is fairly short lived — perhaps a week.

“We saw our first ones a week ago, and by next week the seed heads will be visible. But it’s quite interesting, because the seed heads are really quite different looking. It’s kind of hard to put them together with those little purple flowers.”

So if you find yourself with a few hours this week, and you’re on the hunt for a little springtime beauty, better get out sooner rather than later.

» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com

» Bluesky: @mattgoerzen.bsky.social