Spring ephemeral wildflowers
Spring ephemerals live in the few weeks between the ground thawing and the forest canopy closing overhead. They emerge, flower, feed the season's first bees, set seed, and go completely dormant by midsummer — the bare patch in July is the plant succeeding, not dying. Plant them under deciduous trees, interplant with ferns or sedges to cover the gap they leave, and buy nursery-propagated stock: several of these are still dug from the wild.
Bedfellow lists 29 of these.
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- Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)
- Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
- Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
- Cut-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine concatenata)
- Rue Anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides)
- Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)
- Wood Anemone (Anemone quinquefolia)
- White Trout Lily (Erythronium albidum)
- Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria affinis)
- Henderson's Shooting Star (Dodecatheon hendersonii)
- Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne)
- Glacier Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)
- Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana)
- Fremont's Star Lily (Zigadenus fremontii)
- Toadshade (Trillium sessile)
- Two-leaved Toothwort (Cardamine diphylla)
- Squirrel Corn (Dicentra canadensis)
- Wild Hyacinth (Camassia scilloides)
- Limestone Bittercress (Cardamine douglassii)
- Padre's Shooting Star (Dodecatheon clevelandii)
- Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata)
- Yellow Fumewort (Corydalis flavula)
- Oregon Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum)
- Drooping Trillium (Trillium flexipes)
- Western Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)
- Yellow Trillium (Trillium luteum)
- Desert Anemone (Anemone tuberosa)
- Pink Fawn Lily (Erythronium revolutum)
- Bristly Buttercup (Ranunculus hispidus)