On the Trail: Finding wildflowers in the woods
Every year I wait expectantly for the first daffodils to bloom in an abandoned field at the entrance to our little subdivision. Just knowing that they will be blooming by the end of February helps me make it through that last month of winter.
When those first daffodils bloom, I know it's time to go in search of the first native flowers of the season. Mostly small and delicate, those wildflowers, known also as spring ephemerals, bloom in the forests of southern Illinois from late February into May.
A great place to get your spring wildflower fix is Green Earth's Chautauqua Bottoms Nature Preserve. In peak wildflower season, the couple miles of trails there, in the floodplain of Little Crab Orchard Creek, will lead a hiker past several wildflower patches that can contain several different wildflower species.
I took my first walk, of what will be several this spring, in the evening on the Monday after the beginning of daylight saving time. The "extra" hour of daylight provided time at the end of the day to enjoy the sights and sounds of the trail and enough light to still take pictures.
I parked at the Chautauqua Road Trailhead and walked a portion of the ADA-friendly Dave Kenney Trail that crosses the creek and ends at the Sunset Drive Trailhead. Spring peepers and chorus frogs were calling. Northern cardinals were singing. And wildflowers were indeed starting to poke out from under the leaf litter.
By the time you are reading this, the wildflowers should be really popping out there, but when I visited in mid-March, just two species were in bloom, Harbinger-of-Spring and Spring Beauty.
Harbinger-of-Spring (Erigenia bulbosa) can be found blooming as early as late February, but at just a few inches tall and with small white flowers it can be easily overlooked. But once you get a "search image" for them, you will begin seeing them regularly along the trail. The little Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) is one of my favorite spring ephemerals and can be quite common in some places. At just a few inches tall, the beautiful little flowers consist of five pink-striped petals that are white or a pale pink.
There is a little bee, Andrena erigeniae, that is a specialist pollinator of Spring Beauty and all the spring wildflowers are important early season sources of nectar and pollen for many species of native bees and flies. But I'll save an ode to pollinators for another article.
Like with chasing waterfalls, going on a "wildflower hike" is a great way to possibly turn a friend on to walking in the woods. So, next time you are heading out in search of wildflowers, call up a friend and invite them to go with you. In doing so, you may help turn them into hikers and fans of the forest. And our forests (and wildflowers) need as many supporters as they can get.