• Michelle Wood: SWCD

I do believe spring has landed

• Herb Broda: Nature Notebook
• April 21, 2018
• 1695

Oh yeah, I’m stashing the gloves and heavy coat. I do believe that spring has landed.

Don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy spring wildflowers. Botanists use the fancy term “spring ephemerals” to categorize these persistent plants that emerge, bloom and fade between snowmelt and the time when leaves are fully out on the trees.

When trees are bare, sunlight warms the ground on the forest floor. A variety of early plants emerge and thrive in the light. But as the leaf canopy forms, less and less light reaches the ground, and these early bloomers fade away.

In Ohio there are dozens of interesting spring ephemerals. Many have colorful names like squirrel corn, Dutchman’s breeches, spring beauty and blood root. There is one, though, that is hands down my all-time favorite: the trillium.

The variety we see most frequently in our local forests is the large white trillium with the regal-sounding scientific name of Trillium grandiflorum. During late April and early May, these impressive flowers can grow to 15 inches, making them easy to spot. Trilliums can live a long time: 25 years is common. But it can take three years or more for the first flowers to bloom.

Spectacular trillium carpets can be found at Wooster Memorial Park and also at Johnson Woods, near Orrville. At Johnson Woods there is a boardwalk trail through the entire preserve, making it easy to see the trilliums. Wooster Memorial Park has a Trillium Trail (moderate difficulty) that goes by a hillside with masses of trilliums.

The trillium is an elegant representation of the number three. It has three flower petals, three sepals and three leaves. When large numbers of these plants grow together, like at the two parks mentioned above, the view is breathtaking.

The large white trillium is Ohio’s official wildflower and also the official flower of Ontario, Canada. The plant can be found in all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Over the years a trillium has been featured on two U.S. postage stamps.

Trillium is sometimes called wake-robin because it appears about the time robins begin to be active. Based upon the number of robins on our lawn lately, the trilliums should be in bloom soon.

A huge threat to the trillium population (and my tulips) are deer. They can quickly graze off an entire hillside. Habitat loss also is a problem. When forests are converted to commercial development, we lose trillium habitat too.

It’s been a cool spring this year, so wait a week or two and then plan a walk at Wooster Memorial or Johnson Woods. I guarantee your spirits will shift into spring overdrive when you see those beautiful carpets of large white trillium. Keep your eyes open for other spring ephemeral wildflowers that will poke up through the leaf litter on the forest floor.

Trilliums also can grow in home gardens. The Wilderness Center will sell white and red trilliums at its native plant sale on April 28.

Oh yes, I do believe that spring has landed.

The rare Lakeside daisy

Growing on 19 acres of limestone quarried land on the Marblehead Peninsula in Ottawa County is a species of wildflower so rare that it can be seen nowhere else in the world. The ODNR Division of Natural Areas and Preserves describes it like this:

“The bright Lakeside daisy is one of Ohio's most spectacular wildflowers. This long-lived perennial grows where few others can: on nearly barren limestone bedrock in full sunlight. In early to mid-May, the bright yellow flowers of the Lakeside daisy adorn the otherwise bleak, sun-baked landscape of the Marblehead Quarry. Each basal rosette of leaves usually produces a single, leafless, erect stalk that is 6-11 inches tall and topped with a solitary flower."

All individuals within a given population tend to bloom about the same time, producing the spectacular effect of a golden blanket across the rocky landscape. All the flower heads track the sun across the sky in unison.

My wife and I made the trip to Marblehead last year and had a great time looking at the daisies, exploring the little town and walking around the lighthouse. There is a Lakeside Daisy Preserve Open House this year on May 6. Check their website at naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/lakesidedaisy.

Email Herb Broda at 4nature.notebook@gmail.com.