Old steps and triangulations of yellowness

A couple of days ago when it was sunny I began to make the old steps in the south-east bank visible again from under several years' growth of grasses and mosses. Though cold and frosty the weather this morning looked promising again so I decided to carry on. With the sun on my back I soon felt warm.

My first pleasant discovery was a fine piece of Plagiothecium undulatum (Hart's-tongue Thyme-moss). See below.

Plagiothecium undulatum

There's masses of this on the Boggy Brae in various places
but I hadn't found it here before.

I've found the bulbous roots of Arrhenatherum elatius ssp. bulbosum (False Oat-grass) in other places too.

Pulling away dead grass revealed two yellow crocuses

which, as the sun shone more directly on them,
became ever expanding triangulations of yellowness:

I also found a couple of new primrose plants to add

to the 1200 or so that I counted one year,

and now I can see the steps.

It was a three pairs of gloves job: silk liners,

knitted ones, and waterproof ones on top.

Next task is to actually mow the south-east bank. I left it last year to see how well the large quantities of Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil would do. It did not flower much there, though it does elsewhere in the garden so that bank will get a thorough mowing or two this year, hopefully quite soon before the Red Fescue has its big growth spurt. I love its golden stems.