Spring Greening

The first green in the woods is low, a bright emergence above the leaf mold. Not long after, a fuzziness appears in the high branches. The wildflowers have a timing all their own, as the leaves of the trees begin to open. First out are the bloodroots, followed by spring beauties and toothwort. For those of you with gardens of your own, this roughly corresponds with crocus blooming. Next come the dutchman's breeches, a feathery-leaved plant with flowers that look like little bloomers or teeth. Faerygirl used to call them the tooth-fairy plant. This year, the early spring wildflowers were blooming in the first week of April. The children and I left for a week of vacation, and were able to enjoy the very end of their blooming. The trout lilies, too, bloomed. Then the violets and sweet-smelling phlox reigned for a week or so, and the May apples started spreading their umbrels. "Bloody noses", my mother-in-law's name for our red trilliums, now spread in great patches through the woods. The phlox and violets still bloom, but their time is ebbing. Wild geraniums have just begun to open, and I have spotted some Jack-in-the-pulpits. As each wave of wildflowers crests, more green rises, licking upwards in plant growth, reaching downward from the crowns of the forest. The thickness of the green in such a few short weeks amazes me. By May, most of the wildflowers will have had their brief time in the sun.