April First Native Flowers

For some time we have been considering which native flower opens first.  It does not require a close look to spot these brazen yellow blossoms commonly seen in roadside ditches.  Note the complete lack of leaves which will appear later.  Coltsfoot cannot be in the running for first native flower since it is an European immigrant.

Eagerness to spot early flowers must be tempered with some reason.  Here the leaves are clearly Partridge berry but the flowers are Hepatica.  This presentation brings to mind a favorite story told by our elderly neighbor,  He saw an Arbutus plant apparently bearing purple flowers.  No one will suggest that what he actually saw was Hepatica growing close to Arbutus.  I intend to plant Hepatica close by one of my Arbutus plants in his honor.

Sharp lobed Hepatica presents blossoms of various colors and different petal counts.  This example bears eleven petals each colored a beautiful light violet.  It took me years to appreciate these first native flowers since early garden work kept me from wandering in the woods.

This nearby plant bears only six petals colored a near white blue.  In these woods Sharp lobed Hepatica is the first native plant to present flowers.

This Spring Beauty came in a close second.  Its bud will soon open revealing another early treasure.  Its growth habit makes transplantation nearly impossible.  From a pea sized corm a slender underground shoot travels a considerable distance before sending up its above ground leaves and flowers.  Removing a plant intact is highly unlikely.  As the plant is ending its growth cycle, following the then nearly dead underground shoot back to the corm is no simple task.  These plants grow wild in our back woods but are absent from our wildflower gardens.

Six lightly colored petals presented themselves above the jumble that is characteristic of natural forest floor.  We were unable to find any sign of Bloodroot plants today.  They will appear soon in this location but lost the race for first flower.

Mention must be made of the justification for leaving  the house during these trying times.  Just across the valley from our home is a bedrock ridge that slopes to the south.  Flowers appear first here in response to earlier warming.  Our walk took us along the dirt road that crosses this ridge.  We encountered no road traffic and saw no bikers or hikers while there.  Our outside time here endangered no one.  The land where all of these pictures were taken still carries tattered or fallen  posted signs bearing the name Haller.  A long ago phone call identified the land owner as Irma Haller.  We both taught at the Sidney Junior High School for its last decade of service.  My call was placed in an attempt to gain permission to explore these woods.  What I got was a sincere thank you for respecting her posted signs.  Becky and I frequently walk on this road while looking for flowers.  While there memories of Mrs. Haller always cross my mind.  In keeping with her high standards of expected behavior, we still respect the signs even though Mrs. Haller passed several years ago.