Spring Ephemerals

We've been noticing the wildflowers popping up, and we've been going on wildflower walks through the forest. These flowers are known as the "spring ephemerals" because they don't last very long. They bloom before all of the trees get their leaves, when there is still enough sunlight hitting the forest floor. We've been telling a story about the wildflower fairies who make a deal with the trees to wait until May to grow leaves so that the flowers can thrive.

Here are some of the flowers we've been seeing:

Dutchman's Breeches have little white flowers that look like upside down pairs of pants.

Cutleaf Toothwort flowers have leaves with sharp teeth on the edges.

The Virginia Bluebells have been spreading around basecamp. They're even growing in our compost pile.

We'll be gathering some of these violets this week to make violet lemonade.

May Apples look like little umbrellas. When they emerge, it means the soil is warm enough for morels. We'll be looking out for them this week.

We've also been eating some chickweed. Yum!