For years, this little flower has been one of my favorites. Nuttall’s violets are diminutive, as far as violets go, and are the only species with lance-shaped leaves – thus, they are impossible to misidentify. Violets have always intrigued me, and I can probably credit the violet family for first getting me interested in wildflowers. Their little faces are so shy and cheerful, and each species is so unique. I remember the first time I found a Nuttall’s violet, up behind my grandparents’ house, and I came back to their house and looked it up in a decades-old fieldguide of South Dakota wildflowers. I’ve since rejected this book in favor of a much more complete Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains fieldguide, which is a fantastic book I highly recommend for anyone looking to grow their knowledge of regional plants! Anyway, this first find was probably 15 years ago, and I have only managed to find any a few times since. Just a few each summer. But this year I have seen more Nuttall’s violets than ever before – they are having a wonderful year!