With a winter like the one we just had behind us, our eyes hunger for the sight and scent of flowers. Highly scented, easily recognized Eurasian spring charmers like hyacinth and daffodils have their place in the hillsides of the Northeast these days, but there’s a whole world of fleeting beauty to explore in the forest. These native spring ephemeral wildflowers, like skunk cabbage, trout lily, Dutchman’s breeches, and bloodroot, can be found in the woods and can also be cultivated in your own backyard.

Why Native Spring Ephemerals?

Native spring ephemerals have these traits in common: a bulky root, tuber, or corm (while a bulb has layers that will turn into leaves–think of the layers you see in the true bulb of an onion–corms are technically large stems and solid, like a water chestnut); seeds often covered by an oily seedcoat; and the ability to complete a bloom cycle before the forest canopy shades them out. The high energy requirements of this brief life actually benefits the forest: en masse, they can suck up extra snowmelt, and with it, phosphorus, at a time when the soil is otherwise unoccupied by the dormant forest. 

In addition, spring ephemerals are invaluable to insects. They fuel native early pollinators, including many species of bumblebee, halictic bees, beeflies, and even beetles. These native insects, already threatened by habitat destruction, may have difficulty nectaring in the structures of exotic spring bulbs with which they didn’t evolve, or derive less energy from their pollen. In addition to leaving the leaves and waiting to start your spring clean-up until night temperatures reliably hit 50 degrees Fahrenheit, cultivating native spring perennials is a great way to support native bees.

Ants, too, are inextricably linked to these fleeting flowers. Their elaiosomes (the name for those lipid-coated seeds produced by most spring ephemerals) are distributed by ants, who eat the seedcoat and discard the inner seeds in their middens. This protected environment provides the perfect start for spring ephemerals and ensures that seeds will be deposited away from the parent plant. The symbiotic relationship between spring ephemerals and their ant gardeners, also known as myrmecochory, continues the possibility of the next generation of blooms.

A word on cultivating these exciting but increasingly rarer plants: While they can be found on a forest walk at this time of the year, harvesting plants or even their seeds robs that space of a future that includes more ecological puzzle pieces, many of which have been lost to time and development. While the edible puzzle pieces you grow in your garden are replaced (like when you plant new tomato seedlings), specialized forest denizens rely solely on the food and habitat the plant provides. For instance, the trout lily miner bee is only able to feed on trout lily or spring beauty nectar and pollen, and without these spring ephemerals, faces extinction. All of the spring natives mentioned here are available for sale from reputable nurseries or may be growing on a fellow gardener’s property – these are the ethical sources to consider when expanding your native garden.

Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetida)

Skunk cabbage is named for the unmistakable mustelid odor it releases when disturbed. While this scent may repel some, taking a peek at the first true flower of spring is worth it. Resembling a spotted dragon’s beak poking up, this plant is able to bloom before any others because it’s thermogenic, meaning that it can make its own heat, even melting the snow around it. Going on to generate plume-shaped, vibrant green leaves, as well as a blocky compound fruit, skunk cabbage will completely die back by summer.

To cultivate skunk cabbage, it’s necessary to place it in a wet location where it can have space to spread out. The best ways to grow it are via fresh seed or with young plants divided off and transplanted in the fall (pro tip: stake to find them later).

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)

Trout lily, named for its purple-mottled leaves and yellow, lily-shaped bloom, can be found beside streams, in the forest and its edges. It favors shade to partial sun, and its colonies can persist for hundreds of years, meaning that the patch you stumble upon in the woods may be older than you! 

To grow trout lily, you can order corms or survey your friends to see if any grows in their yards. Transplants corms in early fall before frost and be patient, as blooms will appear after four to seven years.

Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)

This plant’s delicate foliage and surprising flower shape, resembling that of a tiny, frilled pair of pants, easily draws the eye. This feathery foliage is reminiscent of their common garden relative, bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis). A member of the poppy family, Dutchman’s breeches are often confused with squirrel corn, or D. canandesis, but they lack the scent of squirrel corn. While usually white or pale yellow, Dutchman’s breeches can also be tinted pink. Dutchman’s breeches grows in “crowns,” or root systems with multiple stems, like asparagus.

To grow Dutchman’s, locate in forest edges or shady sites, with moist, humus-rich acidic soil. Propagate via divided crowns in the fall.

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

If you see pinkish buds, many-petaled white single blooms, or lacy, wing-shaped leaves in the early spring forest, you’ve probably sighted this spring ephemeral star, bloodroot. This plant, which can self-pollinate or be pollinated by an insect, spreads by rhizomes (aka branching roots, like Asian ginger) which, like the stems, “bleed” acrid red-yellow juice. All parts of the bloodroot plant are poisonous, although it was used as dye and insect repellent by Native American tribes.

To cultivate, take rhizome division via cuttings in early spring or fall. Growing from seed is a complicated process that is more easily done by time and ants. 

This spring, keep your eyes peeled for these swift but exquisite beauties, which are all the more impressive for their place in the early spring ecosystem. 

 A word from the Native Plant Center as we approach the Native Plant Sale, Saturday April 25, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Please let your friends know about this fabulous event – and bring them along! Consider bringing your own cart to shop for plants, as we have a limited number of wagons. And, we still are in need of volunteers, particularly on sale day. If you can help out, please sign up by clicking here.