Beautiful Sunday: First Flowers on New Holland Island

This morning I was happy with the weather: clear skies and bright sunshine. But while I was having breakfast and getting ready for my walk, the sun hid behind a cloud cover, only occasionally peeking out for a brief moment. Nevertheless, the air had warmed up nicely and it was a pleasant walk. I decided to walk to New Holland Island and see how the park was preparing for the summer season.

Despite the day off, park employees are not idle. There is so much to do in spring that they have to work overtime. The area where the ice-skating rink works in winter needs to be completely cleared: in summer this place will be a lawn where it is so pleasant to relax in a deckchair. The watering system for the greenery needs to be checked and repaired. The ball court also needs attention, the surface of the court needs to be renewed after the winter weather.

March was very warm this year, and the ground on New Holland Island is already completely free of snow and ice. Such an early warm spring is a rarity: last year, for example, March was cold, and on 1 April there was a snowfall and as much snow as in the winter months. However, this year we had a cold November - everything looks as if winter has shifted its boundaries, started earlier and ended earlier. Still, nature doesn't trust the unexpected warmth, there is no fresh grass or new leaves on the trees.

I took a leisurely stroll along the park's paths and turned towards the herb garden. In summer, this section of the park is a complex composition of flowering and ornamental plants that rotate throughout the growing season. I look carefully around, but see only dry grass... Suddenly, I notice lilac highlights in the furthest section of the garden, and I immediately move closer. Crocuses are the earliest flowers in this park. They are a perennial, I think the crocus tubers hibernated under the snow on this patch of lawn to wake up in early spring.

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Smartphone	Google Pixel 3a
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russia