On Easter morning my wife and I decided to enjoy the warm sunny spring day by taking a walk at one of our favorite local parks. Dodge Park has a wonderful array of walking/running/biking paths along the Clinton River and through a light woodland of mostly native trees.
The deciduous "forest" canopy, still naked, allowed he warm sunshine to reach the usually shaded ground and some of the earliest woodland wildflowers were taking advantage of the situation. Amid millions of Trout Lilies (Erythronium americanum) and Spring Beauty (Clintonia virginica) I spotted one of my favorites; Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) just emerging from beneath the leaf litter.
A poppy relative, Bloodroot is one of many early blooming woodland treasures of eastern North America. In a race to emerge, flower and set seed before the trees leaf out and effectively intercept the sun's rays before reaching the forest floor, our native woodland wildflowers have evolved qualities that make them valuable garden plants that provide color and excitement before most of our typical garden plants get started.
Trillium are certainly one of the most popular of these woodland natives and we currently have five species available:
Trillium grandiflorum
Trillium luteum
Trillium erectum
Trillium sessile
Trillium recurvatum
In bloom in several colors at Telly's, along with several other favorite spring wildflowers.
Including the previously mentioned Bloodroot, Hepatica, Dutchman's Britches (Dicentra cucullaria) and the gorgeous Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica).
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