Garden Tip 146:

A couple of weeks ago, we spoke of flowering minor bulbs heralding the coming of spring. Right along with them, or shortly thereafter, spring ephemerals also confirm that spring is indeed in the air.

Spring ephemerals are small growing plants that complete their life cycle in early spring– growing, flowering and setting seeds before the foliage of trees and shrubs emerge above, them casting too much shade for them to exist. Here is the best part– they quickly die back to the ground and disappear, leaving only their roots, rhizomes or bulbs to await another season.

A few of my favorites are appearing in the garden now. They are Blood Root (Sanguinaria canadensis) with showy white and pink flowers and roots of red, Dogtooth violet, (Erythronium denscanis) with a star shaped flower and a bulb that resembles a dog’s tooth, and Corydalis, a mighty grower and spreader that resembles a miniature perennial bleeding heart.  Spring ephemerals are Mother Nature’s magical disappearing act!