On Earth Day: Flowers of Naked Woods

Early spring wildflowers are getting it on before the leaves emerge in northern forests.

Carolina Spring Beauty, Sharp-lobed Hepatica and Bloodroot / © Bryan Pfeiffer

FOR A MONTH I followed the spring northward from Florida to Vermont, walking trails among woodland wildflowers and contemplating notions of beauty.

Along the way, I filled pages of my field notebook with ideas about the evolution of beauty and our aesthetic in nature. Give me a week or two (or a lifetime) and I might have an essay for you about all this.

Until then, on Earth Day 2023, here are a few of those wildflowers, many of which I photographed yesterday (21 April) in calcium-rich woods beside Lake Champlain here in my home state of Vermont.

Basically, these plants complete the business of reproduction before the tree canopy leafs-out. So they are bursts of color, form and function in naked woods. You’ll get a sense of that scale in a few of the images below. Onward.

Red Trillium (Trillium erectum) in Vermont

Early Meadow-Rue (Thalictrum dioecium): male flowers (like chandeliers) and female flowers in Vermont

White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) in Vermont

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) in Vermont

Round-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana) in Vermont and Trillium luteum/cuneatum in Tennessee

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) in Vermont

Finally, rare in Vermont, Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica). (Our common Claytonia is C. carolina.)

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Postscript

Yes, I know, I’m late with the final Practical Nature Photography lecture in our seminar for paying subscribers. My excuses are pictured above in this post. I’ll have Lecture 5 (mop-up) for you next week. Thanks, everyone, for your patience.