Each spring I delight in my first glimpse of dainty spring wildflowers scattered along my hiking trails. Welcome, friends.
Called spring ephemerals, these native wildflowers emerge when the sunlight hits the woodland floor before the first tree leaves unfurl.
They are called ephemerals because their beauty is fleeting. They come and go in just a few short weeks, dissolving back into the ground in late spring or early summer.
Why? They must bloom, be pollinated and set seed before the tree canopies steal their sun. But oh what a show until then.
It starts with a dusting of tiny pink-striped spring beauties (Claytonia virginica). Time rolls back as I remember the lawn of my childhood home awash in pink. Even their pollen is pink.
Among the beauties, Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) pop up here and there looking like someone left white pantaloons out to dry.
Intermingled are the nodding white bell-like blooms of cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata).
Boldly marching through the waves of more delicate wildflowers are the hefty trillium, named for their trio of pointed flowers and leaves.
I’m partial to the splotched leaves and red-brown flowers of toadshade (Trillium sessile) but there are lovely purple- and white-flowered forms.
I also am partial to these wildflowers’ poetic names: spring beauties, Dutchman’s breeches, toothwort, toadshade, and trillium.
In my own garden, I’ll smile over a sweep of bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Its white many-petaled blooms dance in the slightest breeze over large hand-like leaves.
And don’t get me started on my mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum). Dangling a single lovely white flower, their splotched umbrella-like foliage hangs on until mid-summer.
But wait. There’s more.
Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are just starting to edge the trails with a froth of blue and pink. My father’s favorite, they show pink in bud, then open fistfuls of sky blue bells.
All spring ephemerals grow low. Since they must withstand early spring vagaries of weather, they must be tough. Growing low protects them from fierce winds.
I encourage you to bend low for a closer look. Most ephemerals have delightful details you don’t notice from on high such as pollen held at the bunched bottoms of Dutchman’s breeches.
How can these spring ephemerals look so good so early? Most have thick rhizomes (thickened underground stems) or bulbs that hold energy stockpiled from the previous year.
Ephemerals’ enduring qualities mirror their ecological benefit. As native plants, they naturally support a healthy ecosystem and provide vital pollen and nectar to early native beneficial insects.
I hope I’ve inspired you to look for wildflowers on your walks and consider adding some to your landscape. But please don’t harvest them from the wild. Look for them at native plant sales and in seed or plant form in catalogs.
Happy wildflower hunting.
By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension.
This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media. Read more by Annette.