Little wanderers

These wee purple flowers appear to delight me every year - and yet I can't even be sure how they came to be here. I know I bought a packet of little, dried-up bulbs many years ago, and stuck them in a pot. They duly flowered - these flowers - and went away again. Later, the pot seemed empty and I wanted it for something else, so I chucked the compost from it onto the bed that's always being flooded and thought no more about it.

Since then, the wee purple flowers have proliferated - nothing showy, though two or three of them are now almost white - but in increasing numbers, and over a surprising number of weeks. I haven't got on to any creative gardening this year so far; all I've done is prune the rosa rugosa before it shoots out of hand, and I'm expecting builders who will likely dump scaffolding on any handy flat space, but these cheery wee things make me think I might. Quite soon.

What are they anyway?