Rooted Ramblings: Beautiful spring ephemerals

This is the time of year when you walk through your yard or through the woods and spot those lovely plants that show their beautiful blooms for just a brief time in the spring. You can’t help but smile when you see these ephemerals popping through the leaves.

One of the very first plants to appear is skunk cabbage. And, yes, it does smell like a skunk. This is a beautiful early bloomer that appears in early February, right through the snow. It has beautiful maroon speckled flowers and can be found on the edges of bogs and streams. And some early pollinators are attracted to the carrion-link scent. If you find this early plant, you will notice that the snow right around it has turned to water. This is a thermogenic plant that creates its own heat.