It’s been just a few chilly, rainy days since my previous post on spring ephemera, and the changes are dramatic. Yesterday brought wet snowflakes that melted on contact; I’m hoping that was our April snowstorm. We did not get the 1–3 inches that the meteorologist postulated, but the ground is quite soggy. There will be no plant rearranging this weekend. Revisiting the same plant species as in the previous post, I find bigger plants and lots of flower buds.
The Virginia bluebells have doubled or tripled in size. They form a nearly continuous carpet fully budded up:
The twinleaf has also grown rapidly. Flower buds are visible on all of them.
The rue anemone are not expanding as rapidly as they seem to be more focussed on growing functional flowers as fast as possible.
Some of the larger baby Dutchman’s breeches already have flower buds. These plants are carpeting patches of ground. I shall have to rearrange them once the ground dries slightly.
For all this focus on these plants that bloom and disappear, other things are popping as well. Two of my native groundcovers are showing great growth and the midseason bulbs are starting their show. The early spring bulbs are past, either busily seeding or just leafing out.