In the interest of getting things started again here at Virginia Wildflowers, I am copying some photos from last spring to re-familiarize you with the progression of spring flowers that may be blooming in your area now. I’ve been out wandering these last few weeks, keeping a close watch on the ground for the “first signs…
Walking Fern
Asplenium rhizophyllum I know this is a wildflower blog, but occasionally a non-flowering plant makes its way into my heart too. Here’s one that I’ve photographed now and then through the years. It is called Walking Fern. I feel like a little kid when I come across Walking Fern on my hikes. I felt this…
Cutleaf Toothwort
Dentaria laciniata or Cardamine concatenata The leaves of this early spring wildflower occur in distinctive whorls of three. Each leaflet is deeply cut, sometimes so much so that it looks like there are five leaflets. Clusters of white to pinkish flowers are born at the top of the plant; each flower has four petals and…
Spicebush
Lindera benzoin Early April is a great time to go for a walk in the woods to look for the first signs of spring. If you look carefully, all sorts of woodland characters are quietly making an appearance. You’ll find that bloodroot, trout lily, twinleaf, hepatica and Dutchman’s breeches are already in bloom. In fact, many of…
Yellow Trillium
Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum) The striking leaves of this stout woodland wildflower are mottled with patches of silvery green. The plant has a lemon scent. Folklore holds that toads sit under the leaves to capture the bugs that are drawn to the flowers, hence the common name, toadshade. Once planted, yellow trillium seeds very easily by…
Wood Poppy
Celandine Poppy Stylophorum diphyllum Among the earliest wildflowers to come up in my yard in April, wood poppies are tough and cold resistant. These native Virginia wildflowers grow quickly into tall plants that reach about 2 feet in height; they produce a profusion of bright yellow flowers from early spring through the summer. The large flowers will eventually give way to fuzzy, elongated seed…
Twin Leaf
Jeffersonia diphylla Twin leaf emerges in mid-March or early April, and blooms soon after the first leaves appear. It is found in damp, loamy soils in open woods in the eastern U.S., primarily in regions north of Virginia. The genus was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, who apparently grew it in his home garden at…
Coltsfoot
Tussilago farfara Coltsfoot. This introduced species is a very early spring wildflower. The flowers appear before the leaves are formed, usually in March and April. Someone informed me that an old-time common name for this plant was “Son Before Father”, because the flower comes up before the leaves fully develop. Gotta love those common names–this one…
Rue Anemone
Anemonella thalictroides Tiny and delicate, the white to pinkish flowers of rue anemone explode in early spring like bright lights on the dark forest floor. The small, three-lobed leaves resemble meadow rue in appearance. The plant is so dainty that it moves almost constantly in the slightest wind, making it a challenge to photograph! Note…
Dutchman’s Breeches
Dutchman’s Breeches(Dicentra cucullaria) I love these little Appalachian beauties! The plant gets its name from the shape of the white flower, which looks like a pair of pants, or “breeches”. The bright little pants dangle from a raceme above the plant, as if they were suspended from a clothesline! Dutchman’s Breeches have delicately cut leaves…
Hepatica
Hepatica (Hepatica nobilis) Three-lobed leaves that resemble the human liver! Hepatica! Liver leaf! On the east coast, you may find this early-blooming spring wildflower in the sharp-leaved or round-leaved form. And just to make it more complicated, they sometimes hybridize! Here is a description of hepatica from Wikipedia: “Bisexual flowers with pink, purple, blue, or…
Bloodroot
Sanguinaria canadensis Here they come… like little soldiers rising from the earth– Bloodroot flowers! Look how their arms are held tight to their sides as they pierce through the cold and damp of early March! These precious wildflowers are among the first to bloom in Southwest Virginia. At my house, the emergence of bloodroot flowers is truly the first sign…
Trout Lily
Dogtooth Violet or Trout Lily Erythronium americanum I went for years without ever seeing a trout lily. They grow low to the ground and come up in the earliest part of spring, when the weather is still cold and unpredictable. Pushing up from under last year’s leaf pack, they are difficult to spot because the…
Skunk Cabbage
Symplocarpus foetidus Early March. The snow is just melting off and the first warm rays of spring have begun. Step outside, and most of the plant world is still asleep. The leaves on the ground are heavy and soggy, and beneath them the ground is still very cold. This is the time for early-evening woodcock…
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