April flowers... and other plants

I keep forgetting to post this but as early as April 2nd (here in Central Ohio) I saw lots of woodland wildflowers emerging from the leafy carpet that lines our local forest floors. This included toad trillium, dutchman's breeches, cutleaf toothwort, and Virginia springbeauty to name a few. I suspect you could find mayapple and troutlily near flower about now in Southern Ohio. To the north I bet those same flowers are starting to peak their first leaves. I'm sure there are plenty others to name. Feel free to post them in the comments section!

That said, gardens are coming alive too. Besides the early and obviously blooming bulbs (tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths...), lots of peonies are stretching out which has really captured my attention. My sugar snap peas are unfolding their cotyledons (first leaves), as well as lettuce and spinach. Hopefully we'll be feasting on these salads in about a month.

Go take a hike in the nearest woods you can find and see what is coming up. Take photos and try to identify them back at home... or bring a field guide. A really user-friendly key to wildflowers is Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (~$20).