| While it’s still snowy and cold here in Central Ohio, spring flowers are looming ever closer on the horizon. To help you start thinking about some additions to your landscapes, let’s spotlight some amazing spring plants! |
 Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) is a stunning, graceful woodland native and is, of course, the state wildflower of Ohio. They require moist, well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter and a location out of direct sun. This trillium can be extremely long-lived when situated well, and ants help disperse their seeds by eating the fleshy elaiosomes and discarding the seeds themselves. |
Toadshade Trillium (Trillium sessile) features three bold, rounded leaves with a strong mottled pattern that fades after emergence. Their Latin name is derived from their stalkless flower that sits just above the whorled leaves. The flower’s maroon, or rarely pale yellow, petals stand erect, which makes the flower appear closed when it’s in bloom.  |
 Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) dazzles us with its beautiful white flowers, even though they are fleeting. After a day or two, the petals fall and are replaced by the developing urn-shaped seed pod whose hinged lid pops open when the seeds are ripe. While we lump it in with the spring ephemerals due to their bloom time and seed dispersal method (ants), the twin kidney-shaped leaves remain active all summer. |
Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a delicate, low-growing ephemeral with wispy foliage and delicate pink and white flowers. Their early and long-lasting flowers offer nectar and pollen for many insects before there are many other options. The specialist bee Andrena erigeniae as well as at least 23 other species of native bees have been documented visiting Spring Beauties to make use of their generous amount of nectar. |
 Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) has bright yellow flowers that make an elegant seasonal groundcover, often seen growing in large colonies along stream banks in low deciduous woodlands. The leaves give the plant its name, as they have mottled coloration that resembles the skin of brook trout. These lilies require moist soil in the spring during, and benefit from partial to full sun early in their growing season and more shade as the trees above leaf out. The genus Erythronium gives its name to this plant’s specialist bee, Andrena erythronii, which rarely forages on other spring wildflowers. |
Sharp-lobed Liverleaf’s (Hepatica acutiloba) bright, cheerful flowers emerge through the leaf litter atop fuzzy 6-8 inch stems in early spring. The flowers can range from white to pink or violet and are joined in a few weeks by freshly unfurled leaves which are mottled and leathery. Unlike many other ephemerals, the leaves can persist all season and even through the following winter, providing interest year-round.  |
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