FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2008
The Best of Spring
"No winter lasts forever. No spring skips its turn. April is a promise that May is bound to keep. And we know it.”
Hal Borland’s memora ble quote isunderstandable for a man born in Nebraska and who lived most of his adult life in New England.Here in Georgia, his April begins in mid-February. Now I start walking in my gardeneach day to see if any spring ephemerals have burst through the earth. The daffodils arealready putting on a pretty respectable show and by March, I will have Trout lilies(
Sanguinaria canadensis
) blooming. What do I mean by spring ephemeral? A purist would tell you that spring blooming herbaceousplants such as bloodroot, jack-in-the pulpit(
) and most of the genusTrillium don’t qualify. While they bloom aroundthe same time as true spring ephemerals, thesepretenders retain leaves and ripen fruit wellafter the forest leaf canopy closes off sunlight to the ground.Spring ephemerals then are early plants thatcomplete their annual cycle in the space of a few weeks – typically six to eight. Thriving on thesunlight available before the over andunderstory trees and shrubs leaf out, they emerge, grow leaves, flower,are pollinated anddrop seed, then go dormantin rapid succession.Interestingly these plants are rarely annuals, but rather perennial plants that return year
after year. Many attract ants, which dispersetheir seeds.It is likely that your grandmother called theseplants wildflowers, and many still use this termhowever, it is ambiguous at best. Some think of wildflowers as these spring ephemerals whileothers apply the word to any plant that grows wild. Today we prefer to differentiate between
native
species that were naturally occurring inthe area prior to European colonization, and
exotic
or
introduced
species. Further, wedesignate some plants are
invasive
species meaning that they out-compete other plants.
Naturalized
plants are thosethat have been introduced to an area, but are now considered by the public as native (Honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica
and Mimosa
Albizia julibrissin
) are a good example of this confusion here in the south. But I digress.Though spring ephemerals bloom earliest herein the south, those of you from northernclimates will see many of the same plants in April and May. One of my personal favorites isthe Trout lily (Erythronium americanum).Tomorrow I will post a profile of this wonderfulplant. All photos for this article were obtained throughForestry Images, a joint project of theUniversity of Georgia and the USDA ForestService. Please consider joining. It’s Free! And, you can help a great free online resource forplant images grow and evolve.TwitThis Add to Technorati Favorites Add me to your Deliciousnetwork The Internet Public Library Stumble It!
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ABOUT ME AND NATIVE PLANTS
Kay Stephenson is a transplant toGeorgia from the St. LawrenceRiver valley of New York. An avidgardener, she served on the boardof theGeorgia Native PlantSociety and advocates for the useof native plants through severalother park and greenspaceorganizations likePiedmont Park Conservancy .Georgia Gardeninghas published several of herarticles. In the interest of fulldisclosure, her own gardens arenot exclusively native, but she is working on it. A freelance writer and fiber artist,Kay lives in Atlanta, Ga with herhusband, Mark, and her dog,Lady.
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