Spring Snowflake flowers-Leucojum vernum

Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) is a bulbous plant native to southern Europe. Romania, my home country is one of its native places.

Leucojum comes from Greek, meaning "white violet", though they look nothing like violets.

Spring Snowflake is blooming short after snowdrops, as soon as the snow melts in its wild habitat.
In March they are blooming in many gardens as well.
Spring Snowflake flowers are bell shaped, having a green spot at the end of each tepal.
The flowers are slightly fragrant, just like some varieties of snowdrops.

This delicate flower is poisonous if ingested, all parts of it.

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White crocus flowers-spring crocus photos

It's another warm, sunny spring day today. I just took some photos of gorgeous white crocus flowers during my short Sunday walk.
They were graciously smiling at the passers-by from a, yet empty flower bed near the sidewalk.
These are very small, just 5-6 cm tall crocus plants, growing wild in Eastern Europe's woodlands and gardens as well.

Beautiful white crocus flowers 

They bloom in early spring, shortly after snowdrops.
In full sun the blooms open up and show their pure white petals. As the sun goes down, these white Crocus flowers close up for the night.

White spring crocus closeup 

The underside of the petals have a light purple coloration which is only visible when the flowers are closed.

White-purple crocus flowers

See also our autumn flowering, purple crocus.

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Early spring flowers-first blooming spring heralds

Early spring flowers are all (almost) bulbous plants, that emerge from the bare ground or even from under the snow with such a rush, that they don't even wait for their leaves to come out first.
Their bright colors and cheerful face bring great joy, knowing that they are never wrong in predicting spring.

• Snowdrops - Galanthus are the symbol of spring in temperate regions, the first sign of nature's rebirth.
  Early in January, a solitary, pendulous, bell-shaped white flower emerges from under the snow, held on a slender stem.
  They are the first spring heralds, pushing their heads through the snow, very early, in late winter.


• Spring Snowflake flowers - Leucojum Vernum are blooming short after snowdrops, as soon as the snow melts. In March they are a beautiful path of color in the yet empty gardens.


• Corsican hellebore - Helleborus argutifolius is one of those few flowers pushing through the snow.


• Primrose - Primula vulgaris, with its pale yellow flowers is a cheerful splash of color in the spring landscape. It is also among the first flowers to shout out load "spring is here".


• Crocuses, these delicate little flower are in such a hurry to show their pretty faces that day don't wait for the leaves to come out first. Crocus flowers emerge from the bare ground painting the landscape in all colors: yellow, purple and white.


• Dwarf Irises are very early blooming, bulbous plants. The big flower of these tiny plants is atop of a short stick (stem) with no leaves.


• Tete a Tete daffodils are miniature narcissus plants, bloom very early as well, together with other dwarf plants like crocuses and dwarf irises.

When all these cheerful, brightly colored flowers are announcing spring than it must be spring, even if outdoors it is still chilly.

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Dye Easter eggs with onion skins-leaf decoration

Coloring beautiful Easter eggs with natural dye like onion skins is simple and a fun Easter craft project.

Here's how to dye beautiful Easter eggs using onion skins and create delicate leaf pattern on them .

1. Egg Decorating Materials

• raw eggs
• yellow onion skin, only the dry outer layers
• fabric: lady socks or pantyhose are the best, gauze (not so good)
• green vegetable leaves from your garden

2. Preparing the onion skin dye

• 2.1. Put the dry onion skin in a small pot and cover with water.
  For a batch of 6 eggs you'll need the dry skin of 8-10 onions, depending on their size.
  Yellow onion skins will give you a beautiful brownish-red color. For a darker, burnt sienna color you can mix in a few red onion skins too. Don't add winger in this dye as it darkens the color of the dye too much.
• 2.2. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low. Let simmer about 15-20 minutes. The dye will have an orange color.

In the meantime, decorate your eggs with beautifully shaped leaves and make them ready for dying.

3. Decorating Easter eggs with leaf pattern

You can use vegetable leaves like parsley or wildflower leaves like clover, even small flowers like the delicate snowdrop flower.
Here is how we do it:

1. Cut a pantyhose or lady nylon socks in 10x10 cm (4x4 inch) square pieces.
2. Wash the raw eggs in warm soapy water to remove possible greasy patches and impurities from the egg shell.
3. Place a leaf on each egg while the egg is still wet or dampen the leaf, to sick to the egg shell.
4. 
   Position the center of a piece of fabric (nylon) above the leave and hold it in place with one finger. With your other hand gather all corners of the fabric together in a bundle and twist it carefully to stretch the nylon piece around the egg.
5. Now wrap regular sewing thread several times around this knot to tie it tightly, as in the picture.

4. Dyeing process with onion skin

4.2. Boil for 10-12 minutes.
Depending on the color of the egg shell and the time the eggs stay in the dye, you will obtain different shades. In my experience, eggs with brown shell will have a deeper color, with a more pleasing, warm contrast between the base color and the leaf pattern.
Surprisingly, the color obtained with this dyeing method on white shelled eggs is less bright, I would say, its muddy.  Click that link to see a comparison.
4.3. When the eggs are dyed to the color you desire, remove them from the dye and let them cool.
4.4. Carefully unwrap the eggs by cutting the knot, as long as they are warm.
You can re-use the same dye for another batch of eggs.

4.5. Once the eggs are cool, put a few drops of vegetable oil on a paper towel and polish them up. This will preserve the eggs and give them a nice gloss.

Don't worry, the eggs do not pick up any of the onion flavor on the inside. Even when an egg cracks during the dyeing process and the color reaches its inside, it is still edible. It contains no harmful chemicals.

See more pictures of Easter eggs and read about the Easter wetting tradition .

To achieve a marveled texture instead of a solid color and the lief decoration, simply wrap the eggs in yellow or red onion skin.
Moisten the skin of a big onion, wrap the egg in it and fix it with rubber band.
Place the eggs in a pot with water and boil them as any hard boiled eggs.

Easter egg dyeing is a good family project to do together with the children.
If you would like to try to hand-paint your Easter eggs, have a look at theses simple egg painting models and coloring pages and have fun with the kids.

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