I never really got to know the legendary University of Rhode Island botanist Irene Stuckey, who passed away at the age of 90 in 2001, but every time I trek Lantern Hill is search of the first blossoms of the Trailing Arbutus, which the Pilgrims called the "Mayflower," I think of Irene, who loved this relatively uncommon plant. Dr. Stuckey was an accomplished photographer, and she occasionally came into the camera store I managed to buy film and show me her remarkable slides of just about every wildflower in the region. She would have delighted in this little patch of Epigaea repens—the scientific name means "creeping on the earth"—that I search for every April to find the first gorgeous blossoms to celebrate. In keeping with our warming climate, the Arbutus, of course, blooms earlier than in Pilgrim time, so their common name is no longer apt. But by any name, the sight of these flowers luring in bees and naturalists is always cause for joy. So is their staying power, as they prosper in impoverished, acid, sandy soil or even, as they do on Lantern Hill, in rock pockets that contain very little earth. Irene would have her camera out. So did I, in honor of the photographer, and this truly grand opening.