It was almost a spring day, and even though the wind still carried a chilly off the Atlantic, the sun was bright and delivered some genuine heat. That said, I kept the long-underwear pants on, and I carried some light gloves, just in case. My destination was Avalonia's Benedict Benson Preserve, and my goal was to try to find that refuge's cache of Round-lobed Hepatica, which I was pretty sure would be in bloom. Discovering the location of a second patch of a plant that had eluded me for 20 or so years was one of the natural history highlights of last year, and after spotting a collection of Hepatica along the Blue-blazed Trail last week, I figured it was time to check on the progress of the Benson group, which grew in never-obvious pockets on the western slope of this exceptionally pretty piece of land. As was the case along the Blue-blazed Trail, the Hepatica were hard to find—perhaps the winter took a toll—but I'm compulsively persistent and, after about a half hour of keeping my eyes low to the leaf litter, I spotted a few. It was worth whatever back discomfort the contortions might cost me.