{"id":3341,"date":"2021-03-15T06:38:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:38:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3341"},"modified":"2021-03-15T06:38:48","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:38:48","slug":"spring-ephemerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/spring-ephemerals\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Ephemerals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Trout<\/a>
Trout lily<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We are approaching the vernal equinox, when, as the name suggests, the hours of daylight and darkness are equal.\u00a0 It happens again in the fall with the autumnal equinox, but I think the spring event is happier and more hopeful, because the days continue to lengthen afterwards<\/p>\n

If the word \u201cequinox\u201d is full of possibilities, so is the word \u201cvernal\u201d, which is descended from the Latin \u201cvernalis\u201d, and means \u201cof spring\u201d.\u00a0 In the spring, low spots in the woods are home to vernal pools that teem with life during the season, but dry up once warmer weather sets in.\u00a0 And then there are vernal flowers, often called \u201cspring ephemerals\u201d.\u00a0 These plants pop up early in the spring and last just long enough to restore hope after a long winter.\u00a0 Spring ephemerals are quick about their work, rising from the ground, flowering and setting seed in the space of a few weeks.\u00a0 Afterwards they oblige the late spring and summer plants by disappearing for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

Some spring ephemerals are indigenous or \u201cwild\u201d plants, like the native dogtooth violet or Erythronium americanum.\u00a0 Others originated elsewhere in the world, like the well-loved narcissus, tulips and hyacinths.\u00a0 They are a little less ephemeral than the natives, because the daffodil and tulip leaves hang around a bit longer, but they still disappear by the first days of summer.<\/p>\n

I love to explore uncultivated areas near my home\u2014the edges of parks, railroad rights-of-way and the edges of local streams–to look for the first spring ephemerals.\u00a0 One of the parks near my home is edged by a stream.\u00a0 A few years ago I was walking by the stream and noticed that the ground was carpeted with elongated 1.5 inch green leaves speckled with brown.\u00a0 One of the nicknames of dogtooth violet is \u201ctrout lily\u201d and the leaves bore those trout speckles.\u00a0 Though not in bloom, I knew the leaves near my feet were dogtooth violets.<\/p>\n

Another wild ephemeral that blooms in the same damp conditions is marsh marigold\u2014Caltha palustris\u2014a ground-hugging member of the buttercup family with rounded leaves and yellow daisy-shaped flowers.\u00a0 When marsh marigolds are happy, they form bright yellow carpets that are glorious while they last.\u00a0 If you see those carpets, take a picture, because chances are the flowers will have disappeared by the next time you visit the spot.<\/p>\n

Some of the wild ephemerals seem downright magical.\u00a0 Trilliums lead that pack.\u00a0 As the Latin name suggests, the leaves, petals and sepals all appear in groups of threes.\u00a0 The plants frequent woodland edges and feature large flowers with waxy petals.\u00a0 The great white trillium or Trillium grandiflorum, is one of the showiest, with pure white petals that age to pink. My garden is home to a vigorous clump of yellow trillium or Trillium luteum, which features mottled leaves and yellow flower petals.\u00a0 I ignore it completely and it has responded by multiplying vigorously, emerging from a mess of English ivy and eventually disappearing back into it.<\/p>\n

Lady\u2019s slipper orchids (Cypripedium) are a welcome sight, partially because they are so beautiful and also because they are rarer now than they were in 50 years ago.\u00a0 Development, pollution and wild collection have done that, so if you are fortunate enough to see a lady\u2019s slipper in the wild, treasure that opportunity.<\/p>\n

We are all so familiar with exotic tropical orchids that it is even more amazing to see a native, terrestrial orchid at the edge of a wooded area.\u00a0 The lady\u2019s slippers are distinctive because each flower wears a \u201cslipper\u201d, which is a pouch-like petal that faces downward and is accented by two, smaller twisting petals.\u00a0 The flowers can be white, pink or yellow, depending on the species.<\/p>\n

If you see a lady\u2019s slipper in the wild, take its picture, but do not pick the flower or attempt to dig the plant.\u00a0 Lady\u2019s slippers need a highly specialized growth environment and do not transplant successfully.<\/p>\n

There are so many other ephemerals\u2014tiny pink-striped Claytonia or spring beauty, the pantaloon flowers of Dutchman\u2019s breeches or Dicentra cucullaria, and the four-petaled yellow flowers and ferny foliage of the native celandine poppy\u2014Stylophorum diphyllum\u2014among others.\u00a0 Find the less tended areas near you and look for them.\u00a0 They are there, and the more people who know about them, the better their chances of survival in changing ecosystems.<\/p>\n

\u201cEphemeral\u201d should mean \u201cdeparts in the summer\u201d, not \u201cdeparts forever\u201d.\u00a0 We have a responsibility to keep the departure seasonal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are approaching the vernal equinox, when, as the name suggests, the hours of daylight and darkness are equal.\u00a0 It happens again in the fall with the autumnal equinox, but I think the spring event is happier and more hopeful, because the days continue to lengthen afterwards If the word \u201cequinox\u201d is full of possibilities, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,5],"tags":[2089,2477,2476,2479,2471,2478,2472,2475,2474,1763,540,2473,147],"class_list":["post-3341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-winter","tag-caltha-palustris","tag-claytonia","tag-cypripedium","tag-dicentra-cucullaria","tag-dogtooth-violets","tag-dutchmans-breeches","tag-erythronium","tag-ladys-slipper-orchids","tag-marsh-marigold","tag-spring-ephemerals","tag-spring-gardening","tag-trillium","tag-wildflowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3341"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3342,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3341\/revisions\/3342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}