Happy 100th birthday to The Prairie Crocus - Manitoba's Floral Emblem

Today, March 16 is the 100th Anniversary of the day when the Prairie Crocus was made the floral emblem of Manitoba.

In the early 1900s, the Manitoba Horticultural Society nominated three flowers as candidates for an official floral emblem - the Prairie Crocus, the Prairie Lily and the Wild Rose.
Manitoba school children voted. The Prairie Crocus came first, the Prairie Lily second and the Wild Rose, third. On March 16, 1906, the act making the Prairie Crocus Manitoba's provincial flower was given Royal Assent and thus one hundred years ago, the Prairie Crocus officially became Manitoba’s floral emblem.

There is an interesting story about the Prairie Crocus which dates back to the time when James Wickes Taylor became the American Consul in Winnipeg in 1870, when Manitoba became a province.

Each spring Consul Taylor would go to Bird's Hill Park to gather Prairie Crocus blooms. He would then make his rounds delivering these flowers to many of the leading ladies of Winnipeg. When Mr. Taylor died in 1893, it was discovered that his list contained 500 ladies' names. Each spring he had delivered a Prairie Crocus to each one on his list.