Then, in 2002, a revelation: we came in early spring, to a land transformed by a carpet of crocuses. The previous autumn, we had retired from university positions in the US, and had relocated to Greece; since then, we have lived here year-round, splitting our time between an apartment in a suburb of Athens and our "country place" on Kythnos.

After seeing that profusion of flowers the first spring, I became fascinated with the variety of plants in bloom, and began to photograph them. I now have an archive depicting nearly 200 species in all stages of growth -- more than 2,000 images.

All are of plants I found growing on our own land: 9 hectares of hillside, sloping sharply upward from sea-level to about 100 meters, and situated on the western side of Kythnos midway between the port and the southern tip of the island.