An early spring walk in the woods

I like to rise early in the beginning of March, when you can feel in your bones (especially my old bones) that spring is just around the corner. The early morning sky is pink and blue, and the temperature is in the 50s. This is my favorite time of year, the new beginning. Winter is past and everything is fresh again.

And this is the time to begin my search of the spring ephemeral wildflowers. Spring ephemerals are plants that emerge early in spring before the trees put out their leaves and block the sunlight, live for a few short weeks, then die back to the ground to do it all over again the next year.

Usually, the first of these is the Trout Lily, Erythronium americanum, so named because its spotted leaves are reminiscent of a spotted trout. It adapts to variable changes in temperature by closing its flowers’ beautiful, yellow petals at night, thus protecting its ability to produce seeds.

Bloodroot, Sanguinari candensis, is another early emerger. The white flower sometimes appears before the leaves. If you break the stem of the Bloodroot, the inside is red. When I was young, this was growing in the woods of the property we were living on in Sandy Springs and is the plant that sparked my interest in wildflowers.

A very delicate looking flower, the Rue Anemone, Thalictrum thalictroides, is another early one. Its flowers range from white to pale pink, dancing in the slightest breeze.

When I lived in Atlanta, the Sweet Betsy Trillium, Trillium cuneatum, was the first harbinger of Spring in my garden.

These are just a few of the early wildflowers. If you are interested in learning more about a variety of spring wildflowers, when to observe their peak blooming times, their growth requirements, and places we can visit locally to experience the beauty and enjoyment of wildflowers, please join Carole MacMullan and me for a virtual talk on wildflowers on Sunday, March 5 at 2:00 pm EST. To assure your place in this first class in the Spring 2023 Gardening Lecture Series presented by the North Fulton Master Gardeners, “A Walk in the Woods with Spring Wildflowers - Observing the Beauty of Nature,” please register at https://bit.ly/Spring2023NFMGGardeningLectureSeries. The class will also be available for later viewing on the NFMG YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/ northfultonmastergardeners.

Happy Gardening!

North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public in the areas of horticulture and ecology in order to promote and foster community enrichment. Master Gardener Volunteers are trained and certified by The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Learn more at nfmg.net.

This week’s guest Master Gardener “Garden Buzz” columnist is Judy Peacock. Judy grew up in Norcross when it was still a small, rural town and spent many days playing in the fields and woods. Her mother was a wonderful gardener and could grow almost anything from a cutting. She taught Judy to identify trees and plants. As a child Judy would gather flowers and create small arrangements of violets and daffodils. Judy attended UGA and majored in Art Education. She loved Botany classes and spent a lot of time in the Founders Garden and the university greenhouses. After graduation, she rented a cottage in Sandy Springs in the middle of 40 acres, exploring the creek and woods, identifying wildflowers and started her first herb garden. After working full time for 28 years, Judy retired and become a Master Gardener and now shares her love of plants and the natural world through her volunteer work with the North Fulton Master Gardeners.