I'd almost completely forgotten about wild columbines—the real things, the original hummingbird magnets—but quite unexpectedly, on the rocky outcrops of the Blue-blazed Trail running west by Wyassup Lake, there they were, in a cliff-face profusion and beauty you had to see to believe. I "gave" myself this morning hike, both as a reward for finishing up a big story project and because I wanted to see if the Nodding Trilliums and other specialties of this path were blooming. Sure enough, my timing was just about perfect and I found every remarkable wildflower I'd discovered last year growing on the quartzite, not-quite-as-acidic soil of a stretch of this trail. But Aquilegia canadensis was not on my list, so I was overjoyed to find it. I used to grow the wild plant in a shady stretch of rocky garden I'd created, and you could time the arrival of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds by the opening of its blossoms, which tended to flower in the first week of May. But that timing is now off, the RTHs arrive earlier these days, and the A. canadensis plants in the garden petered out. Not along this path, however. It was another reward for industry, and though I didn't spot any Ruby-throats probing for nectar, I'm sure I'm not the only one of nature's creatures reaping columbine rewards.