This year I’ve been out in the garden just looking around, deciding where I can move plants when it is finally warm enough to start the annual chore of garden clean up. Here in Northern Michigan our weather has been - as it always is in April - capricious.

So, until there have been enough heating degree days for me to feel comfortable that my clean-up won’t affect pollinators that have overwintered in my garden, I’ve enjoyed the blooms of snow drops and three types of squill that have naturalized in a couple patches in our gardens.

Because the squill are several different colors I used the Picture This app on my phone to photograph them all and that’s provided me with the opportunity to learn a little more about squill. Using the app I identified three different types that are in our yard: they include Siberian Squill (deep blue) Lucille’s Squill (blue and white) and Striped Squill (white with blue stripes) which is also known as Russian Snowdrop.

I have no idea when my mother first planted squill in the yard or where she planted it but it’s been there over 35 years and I’ve done nothing to stop its spread.

Maybe I should… in reading up on it I realize that it can be invasive, but I’m doing bigger battles with Myrtle (or Periwinkle), Oriental Bittersweet, Tree of Heaven and Lily of the Valley.

Now that I know that squill can be invasive I’ll keep my eye on it to make sure it’s not spreading into any woodland areas. If that happens, much as I love the naturalized patches of it as the first harbinger of spring, I’ll start eradicating it.