NATURE
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Spring Beauty
a moment in BLOOM The ephemeral nature of our woodland spring words and photographs by MIKE DUNN
hese days, the tree branches are still bare in our woods, their winter skeletons exposed, their leaves from last year now covering the forest floor. Grays, browns, and the occasional splash of green from some ferns are the dominant colors. But change is coming. Starting in late December, more sunlight reaches us with each passing day. In the mornings, I gaze out the window at the native plant shade garden just a few feet from our kitchen, looking for signs of new growth. The spotted leaves of the Trout Lilies should be up any day now. The first Hepatica has shared its purple grace along our creek. Soon, the drab colors of the woods will be dappled with bits of beauty — the first wildflowers of spring. Spring ephemerals, as these flowers are known, last only a few weeks or months before retreating underground until the next year. They take advantage of increasing sunlight that hits the forest floor before leaves of hardwood trees have a chance to open and cast shade upon the ground. During their brief period aboveground, these wildflowers attract early pollinators and manage to store enough energy underground (in their rhizomes or corms) to ready them for their next appearance. They are found mostly in deciduous forests of North America, Russia, and Japan. North Carolina has an abundance that scatter the forest soil throughout our state, especially in the mountains. We have a large deer population in our community here in Hillsborough, so spring ephemerals are not particularly abundant in the woods behind our house. Scattered along a creek bottom, our crop is made up of Cutleaf Toothwort, Round-lobed Hepatica, Spring Beauty, Rue Anemone, and a few Giant Chickweed; their tiny petals display shades from snow-white to a gentle violet, lively against a background of verdant leaves. Last year I found the first Hepatica blooming the third week The Art & Soul of Raleigh | 37
