Over time, it has taken on a lot of other descriptive names as well: prairie smoke, goslinweed, prairie crocus, Easter flower and wind flower. "My mother called them Mayflowers," Monsees recalls.

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 prairie crocus, Manitoba’s provincial flower since 1906, is in bloom at Living Prairie Museum (2795 Ness Ave.) and throughout the city.

The crocus is part of the ancient Prairie ecosystem. The flowers bloom in areas where the unbroken “Prairie wool” (the thick, deep fescue mane of Prairie grasses) is intact.

As it turns out, the crocus that we see on the North Dakota prairie is a different flower than the traditional crocus. Both are early spring-blooming flowers, have a bulblike structure and grow in ...

The crocus is a smart flower. When it turns cold, it closes its petals and goes back into hibernation. No wonder it’s Manitoba’s provincial flower.

The season begins with Manitoba’s official flower, the prairie crocus, the pale blue petals appearing as the final clumps of snow disappear into the spring air.

Certain tribes used to call prairie crocus ears of this earth because it was the first flower to come through the snow to signify spring was on its way," said Cross.

One of the first to bloom is the prairie crocus (Pulsatilla patens, sometimes sold as Anemone patens), a low-growing plant that is not to be confused with the crocus bulbs we plant in fall and ...

Its flowers are slightly larger, in more varied and intense colours: white, pink, red, blue and purple. Like the prairie crocus, it is a true harbinger of spring. Full sun in well-drained soil.