Article by Liz Nye & Video by Megan Stouffer, New England Botanic Garden Staff
April 2023
It’s a brisk spring morning. Sunlight beams onto the leaf litter lining the forest floor as gardener Ellen Scheid leads the way through New England Botanic Garden’s Inner Park. This naturalistic garden space is devoted to native plants—trees, understory shrubs, and variety of perennials. Today, Ellen looks for spring ephemerals, wildflowers that play an essential role in the forest ecosystem but spend much of the year out of sight, below ground in the forms of rhizomes, corms, and tubers. For a short time from late April to mid-May, before tree leaves shade the forest floor, spring ephemerals emerge with striking foliage and delicate flowers.
Spring ephemerals can easily elude people because of their short above-ground life cycles. But pollinators know where and when to find them. Spring ephemeral flowers provide some of the first nectar and pollen resources to early emerging bees, flies, wasps, beetles, and butterflies. Ellen describes how Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), an ephemeral with flowers that look uncannily like bloomers, attract queen American bumble bees (Bombus pensylvanicus). Using their long tongues and powerful legs, these bulky bees find their way to pollen concealed within the adorable, pants-shaped flowers.
American bumble bees have the tools to forage from flowers of all different shapes and sizes. For other native bees, the forest doesn’t present the same buffet. The solitary miner bee (Andrena erythronii), a specialist species, relies so heavily on the flowers of the ephemeral trout-lily (Erythronium americanum) that the insect is commonly known as the trout-lily miner bee. After overwintering in nests drilled into logs, the bees emerge seeking pollen from the trout-lily to feed their young. Close ecological connections like this characterize native spring ephemerals. In the Inner Park, Ellen and other members of the Garden’s horticultural team steward the landscape using low-maintenance, ecologically friendly techniques that help these important relationships thrive. Pollinators benefit, plants benefit, and visitors who explore New England Botanic Garden during early spring do, too.
“Ephemerals are precious plants, and we can enjoy them to the fullest when we all do our part to promote and protect them,” Ellen says. That means staying on designated trails both at the Garden and in other forested parks where ephemerals might grow. “You never know what plants might be sleeping under last year’s leaves,” Ellen adds. And despite how lovely and exquisite ephemerals can be, refraining from picking their flowers or attempting to transplant them is important, too.
That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy spring ephemerals and their many ecosystem services at home. With a little bit of research to determine which plants would be most successful in a particular site, gardeners can certainly incorporate spring ephemerals into their own landscapes. Just plan for patience if taking on this type of gardening project. Many native spring ephemerals are slow to establish.
Grow Native Massachusetts has compiled a list of nurseries and sources that sell native plants grown from seed. Several nonprofit organizations that advocate for native plant awareness, like Native Plant Trust in Framingham, Massachusetts and Wild Seed Project in southern Maine, also sell seeds and/or plants. They even provide growing guidance and educational programs that could help get you started. Of course, you can also reach out to the team at New England Botanic Garden—we’re always happy to encourage your next ecological gardening adventure!