By Mary Beth Pottratz
Snow trilliums are up! Three tiny white petals flare out from the center of yellow stamen. Each is just a few inches tall and an inch across. A few white trout lilies sport drooping flowers on delicate stems.
Small splotches of budless green leaves poke through the leaf litter on the woodland floor. I recognize toothwort, Virginia waterleaf, sedges, anemones and more. Many of our usual winter birds are calling, plus I hear a swamp sparrow and a common nighthawk. I did not see any dark-eyed juncos on my visit today, but they were many at my feeder in Hennepin County yesterday.
Tiny white bloodroot buds with a slight blue tinge are closed this cloudy afternoon. Their stems are wrapped with still-unfurled leaves, proving that they just developed today.
Daffodils are up, but tulip leaves are just several inches above ground. Forsythia is dotted in bright yellow spots. Although it is not a Minnesota native, this yellow-blossomed shrub signals to gardeners that it is time to awaken the (also non-native) roses from their winter beds.
Nearby, a clump of last year’s hepatica leaves surround hairy purple stems and buds. Fuzzy stems of pale pink hepatica flowers almost blend into the leaf litter. The leaves will come up once the flowers have withered.
Marsh marigolds form clumps of cupped green leaves along the dry banks of the woodland brook, but there is no sign of blossoms yet.
Raised garden beds with interpretive signs line the path from the woodland to the wetland. The Native Orchid Conservation Program is just one part of the Plant Conservation Program at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and an amazing volunteer experience. We prepared seeds for propagation in the lab, which is no small feat for seeds as tiny as dust. Even more difficult was replicating the exact mediums and environments the seeds would grow in.
Pasque flowers are up in the Prairie Display Garden! The name refers to their Easter bloom time. They usually sprout up in dried grasses on south-facing and often steep slopes.
As I slowly leave the Arboretum, a pair of sandhill cranes chortle from the marsh. I’ll keep an eye out to see if they nest here, too!
Mary Beth Pottratz is a Minnesota Master Naturalist Volunteer. More information about the program is at Minnesota Master Naturalist.