Spring has barely sprung, and already the world around us is bursting into life in vivid color. Flowering cherries, magnolias and forsythias practically grab hold of your eyeballs and will not be ignored.

So it would be easy to overlook the more subtle wildflowers coming into bloom all around us, and that would be a real shame. In the past few days, I have noticed common blue violet (Viola papilionacea), dogtooth violet (Erithronium americanum), bloodroot (Sanguieum canadensis), glory of the snow (Chinodoxa forbesii), spring beauty (Claytonia virginica), Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia), early saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiensis), marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis euroopaea) and round-lobed hepatica (Hepatica americana) – all blooming in local woods, and I’m sure I’ve missed a few.

I would encourage you to take notice of these quiet beauties in the brief time they are here. Many of them are spring ephemerals, so they will disappear altogether before very long.

You can easily find all of the same wildflowers I saw just by walking in the woods in the Princeton area, or you could visit a public garden like the Leonard J. Buck Garden in Far Hills, NJ for a heaping dose of spring wildflowers. April is prime time at the Buck Garden, and since the garden peaks around the third weekend of the month you may want to visit the annual plant sale April 24^th and 25^th.   There will be lectures and guided tours available, or just tour this truly beautiful garden on your own.

For more info, call the Leonard J. Buck Garden at (908) 234-2677 or visit their website at www.somersetcountyparks.org. (Check out their schedule of lectures and workshops while you’re there.) 

Suzanne Cammerano is a landscape designer and consultant. You can contact her at suz@changepartnersinc.com