The familiar "prairie crocus" or "pasque flower" is the harbinger of spring across the prairies, blooming more-or-less around that most unpredictable of holidays, Easter - depending on the timing of the snow melt, and in those increasingly rare places where the grasslands have not been too severely disturbed. They occur here up through the montane-to-lower alpine zone, blooming even into early July.
From along the Bow River in Calgary (#1-5), and lastly, in seed, from an alpine ridge in Kananaskis Prov. Park:
